Obasanjo is liability to Ogun PDP, says Okupe

Former Presidential spokesman Dr. Doyin Okupe yesterday said former President Olusegun Obasanjo is a liability to the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He noted that the former President has not only “erred politically”, but may also cost the party its victory in future elections in the state.
According to him, if Obasanjo’s leadership style is left unchallenged, Ogun PDP will be doomed.
Okupe spoke at the Ijebu–Igbo home of billionaire hotelier and politician, Prince Buriji Kashamu.
He was the former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Obasanjo between 1999 and 2003.
He said: “Obasanjo is our leader. We have a lot of respect for him; we are proud of his achievements. But politically, he has erred; that’s the truth. Politically, he has erred and his style of leadership is not such that will develop the party.
“We do not want this party to die. Some of us were in this party before Obasanjo came. So, we are not going to allow it to die. But if we go the way they are leading us, the party will die. So, it’s a rescue mission.”
Okupe noted that Obasanjo, being the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of PDP, wields enormous power.
He said: “I will be honest with you; the chairman of the BOT is not a small person in any political party. Obasanjo is the chairman of the BOT; so you cannot rough-ride over him anyhow, even if his demands are undemocratic or unreasonable.
“Still, they (party members) have to be very careful. He is our natural leader here in Ogun State. Like they say in Yoruba, we can’t look him in the eye.
“We just feel that what is right should be done, irrespective of who is doing the wrong thing. If we cannot do that, then we are not worthy of the leadership positions we occupy. That is the only basis of our disagreement.”
The former presidential spokesman said the Ogun PDP is factionalised into three unequal units – Kashamu’s group, Obasanjo’s group and what remains of former Governor Gbenga Daniel’s group.
He said: “Kashamu is the largest of the units; in fact, the mainstream.”
Okupe said the formation of the Transition, Reconciliation and Congress Committee (TRC), headed by Chief Bode Mustapha, by the National Vice-Chairman of the party in the Southwest, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, was wrong and divisive.
He alleged that the TRC was an illegal body conscripted to usurp the legitimate roles of the Dayo Soremi-led Executive of the party by Obasanjo’s minority group.
Oupe said: “We just don’t feel that it is right for the minority to be tyrannical over a majority. That is why we went to court. The court has re-emphasised our position that our Exco is the legitimate exco.
“Whatever illegal contraption that was conceived by the Southwest leadership – what (Transition, Reconciliation and Congresses Committee) they contrived only exists in the Southwest; it doesn’t exist elsewhere.
“This TRC Committee is just a device to usurp the constitutional authority from legitimately elected leaders. That is undemocratic and is not right.”