Reconciliation of PDP factions in Oyo, mirage – Party Chieftain

The reconciliation of various factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, is a mirage and temporal, Ademola Omotoso, a Chieftain of the party, has said.

Omotoso made the declaration on Wednesday in Ibadan, while speaking with newsmen.

He recounted how committees led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, visited the state to reconcile the factions, but to no avail.

“Reconciliation is not at my level. So many attempts have been made for reconciliation. For whatsoever reasons, some people are no longer interested in reconciliation.

“Saraki and Atiku groups have been in Ibadan and we have also been called at the national, but all to no avail. Reconciliation is a mirage and temporal,” the party leader said.

On the payment of workers’ salaries, Omotoso said that it was not an achievement to be brandished by any politician, but rather, fulfilment of contractual obligation.

He said that “only small minds in government would brandish payment of workers’ salaries as achievement”.

Omotoso, a renowned Advertising practitioner and former Chairman of Ibadan North Local Government Area, who clocks clock 60 on Thursday, said that payment of salaries was all about fulfilling an obligation.

He said that workers deserved to be paid for the work they have done.

“We have both big and small minds in government. If you say paying salaries is an achievement, then, you’re of small mind. I don’t see paying salaries as an achievement.

“For people to have worked, they are expected to be paid. You must pay salary; it’s a contractual thing; it’s biblical and constitutional.

“How would you say that it is an achievement? It’s not! It is the responsibility of the government to pay salary. Mind you, salaries are paid from the Federal allocations,” he said.

Omotoso said that it was wrong for anyone paying salaries regularly to see it as an achievement because some others had failed to do same.

“You don’t build on error. You don’t make an error the right thing. If you think someone isn’t paying salaries, it’s an error and that’s why people rejected them,’’ he said.

Omotoso, however, advised political office holders to always execute projects that would uplift the people, saying that it was unfair to execute projects with no direct benefits to the people.

The former council chief said he remained a bonafide member of the PDP, adding that he never left the party since he joined in year 2000.

Commenting on PDP in Oyo State, he said his faction of the party remained the authentic contrary to insinuations that they were aggrieved.

“We are authentic party members and not aggrieved as some have been saying. We had our parallel congressed at Jogor Centre, they came to attack us.

“Then, who is the aggrieved? If we are the aggrieved as they have been claiming, we are supposed to have attacked them,” he said.

Omotoso recalled how he worked seriously for the enthronement of Gov. Seyi Makinde-led administration, saying that the governor couldn’t fault his claim.

“When you lay down your life for what you believe, you don’t have to feel that you’ve done something extraordinary. I don’t have regret for supporting Makinde.

“Makinde was the candidate of the party and I must support the candidate of the party. Along the line, I don’t know what happened,” he said.

Omotoso, “Look at late former Gov. Adebayo Alao-Akala, he was so magnanimous and not a pretender. He presented himself to the people exactly the way he was when he was on earth. He was a man of all seasons.”

The former council chairman said that there was hope for the PDP at all levels to win the 2023 elections, promising to support anyone the party presented.

“If we continue to do things the same way, we would continue to get the same result.

“We need to do things differently as a party to get the desired result. PDP is still the best party,” he said.