*vows to retrieve mandate from him
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Following the defection of the Oyo State Deputy Governor, Engineer Rauf Olaniyan from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), PDP on Monday asked him to vacate his office immediately.
PDP expressed this in a statement by its Oyo State Publicity Secretary, Engr Akeem Olatunji, made available to journalists following the defection of Engineer Olaniyan to APC.
Accusing the deputy governor of willfully abandoning the political party and the votes that produced him as such on the party’s joint ticket, PDP noted that any attempts by the defecting deputy governor and his new party ” to steal Oyo people’s mandate through the backdoor after the last ruling party was utterly rejected at the 2019 governorship poll will be resisted legally.
According to the statement, the PDP leadership in the state, South west region, and national levels all intervened at different intervals to resolve whatever the situation fueling the suspected defection plan but to no avail.
PDP maintained that the defecting deputy governor ” should not pretend not to know what is right next to do after leaving the political platform that sponsored him and Makinde on the joint ticket if truly he has any atom of the Yoruba ‘omoluabi’ toga he always ascribed to himself” adding, “Oyo people did not vote for a PDP/APC joint ticket, they voted entirely for a PDP mandate”.
” While section 40 of the constitution of Nigeria guarantees freedom of association of any person, the deputy governor ought to be enlightened by the same Constitution when it stipulated that the ticket upon which he (Olaniyan) contested the 2019 governorship election alongside Governor Makinde as a deputy was not an independent candidate ticket, ” it said.
PDP added, ” Our position is simple and very clear on this matter and as a matter of legal implication, the votes in any election in Nigeria are to political parties, and not candidates,. And it is on this note that the PDP as the ruling party in the state is advising the Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan, not to be carried away by the lies and deceits told him by a political neophyte such as ‘Mr jagba’ and be bamboozled into self delusion of thinking he can be used a tool to steal Oyo people’s mandate through the backdoor”.
“Failure to follow this advise and adhere strictly to it from the PDP which is the legitimate owner of every single vote casted by the electorates in the 2019 governorship election, the PDP shall not hesitate to immediately deploy every constitutional means to prevent this daylight robbery”.
Oyo PDP maintained, ” It is only when you contest election as an independent candidate and win and then decides to move to any political party of your choice that you become the owner of the votes cast by the electorates, unfortunately for Olaniyan who wants to eat his cake and still have it.”
” The Oyo PDP, which is the rightful owner of the mandate will retrieve it back in no distant time using every available legal means if Olaniyan fails to humbly resign as a gentleman with his new move”, adding, ” we’re determined and resolved to retrieve the party’s mandate being withheld illegally and unlawfully by the deputy Governor, Engr Rauf Olaniyan because it belongs to the people of Oyo state who have handled same to the PDP.”
PDP however urged the APC governorship candidate in the state , Senator Teslim Folarin and his likes in the Oyo APC to stop bloating in self delusion, adding that “Oyo PDP, Ondo and Kogi state deputy governors made same moves prior to elections in their respective states but the state governors went to record landslide victories at the guber polls”,
Oyo PDP emphasized that there is no vacancy in the Agodi Government House, saying, ” the 2023 election is already a forgone issue as the people of Oyo state who are well satisfied with the people oriented policies of Makinde led PDP administration are ever ready to make a repeat statement with their votes more than 2019.
