PPN chieftain alleges gun attack

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State yesterday levelled allegations of anti-party activities against Governor Gbenga Daniel and hinted that he might soon face disciplinary action as the party leadership in the state was investigating the matter.

Ogun PDP Chairman, Dayo Soremi, who addressed the media in Abeokuta, alleged that Daniel had been holding “clandestine” meetings with former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Ibikunle Amosun, with a view to reaching an accord for the People’s Party of Nigeria (PPN) and the ACN to work together in the general elections.

But in a reaction, Daniel said “nothing can be farther from the truth and the new phantom claim is indicative of desperation in the part of Chief Soremi and his cohorts.”

The governor, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Adegbenro Adebanjo, insisted that he did not leave his Sagamu residence throughout Tuesday, the day he was alleged to have met Tinubu.

But Soremi said the PDP has evidence to prove that the first of such meetings was held at Amosun’s Ikeja, Lagos residence on Friday April 1, while the second one was held at Tinubu’s Ikoyi, Lagos residence on Tuesday.

Also, Chairman of the PPN in Abeokuta South Local Council, Ismaila Odejimi, on Tuesday night narrowly escaped death when some unidentified gunmen attacked his Abeokuta  residence at 11 p.m.

Odejimi is one of the loyalists of Governor Daniel who recently defected to the PPN from the PDP following the controversy that trailed the alleged selection of the PDP candidates for the general elections.

The three gunmen who, according to Odejimi operated on two motorcycles, invaded his house shooting their way through. Fortunately for the PPN chieftain, he was not at home at the time.

However, the assailants shattered Odejimi’s Mercedes Benz car with several bullets.

Though Odejimi’s wife, children and others were in the house at the time of the 30-minute attack, no casualty was recorded.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States (U.S.), Prof. Ade Adefuye, has submitted that the Nigerian Federal System has always exhibited peculiar and irregular characteristics, which put the state governments at the mercy of the Federal Government.

Adefuye made this submission yesterday in Abeokuta in a lecture he delivered as part of activities to mark the 55th birthday of Governor Daniel.

He said: “The lingering effect of military rule, which took more than half of the period since Independence, raised doubts about Nigeria’s practice of federalism. The military’s centralising tendencies virtually turned Nigeria into a unitary state in a federal disguise.”

According to Adefuye, “the continued intensity of distributive contention as opposed to productive accumulation in the Nigerian federation as the constituent state governments struggle relentlessly for the centre’s abundant financial resources and distributive largesse tend to make the doctrine of federalism in Nigeria more as an ideal that is yet to be achieved.”

Soremi alleged: “At one of the meetings, it was agreed by Otunba Gbenga Daniel on behalf of his new People’s Party of Nigeria (PPN) to vote for the ACN presidential candidate instead of the PDP candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan.

“By this desperate action of his, he has jettisoned President Jonathan, the PPN candidates and their followers. The implication of this is that PPN will vote for the ACN governorship candidate, Ibikunle Amosun and ACN presidential candidate Nuhu Ribadu”.

Following an unresolved crisis, Daniel’s loyalists within the PDP defected to PPN while he chose to remain in the PDP. The governor has asked the PPN members to vote for President Jonathan in the presidential election and the PPN Governorship candidate, Gboyega Isiaka.

Accusing Daniel of desperation, Soremi insisted that the only thing the governor was interested in was “to sell Ogun State to whosoever may be interested to cover up his monumental mismanagement of the state at the expense of the state and particularly those who follow him.”

Posted by admin on Apr 7 2011. Filed under Ogun, Party Politics, Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry