June 24, (THEWILL) – The winner of the governorship primary election of Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Ogun State, Otunba Deji Oshinowo, has declared that he remains the authentic candidate of the party, ahead the 2023 election.
He equally accused some leaders in the party of trying to impose Tony Ojeshina, who lost to him at the election, on the delegates, with the intention of allegedly selling his mandate to the state governor, Dapo Abiodun.
This came, following an alleged ploy by Ojeshina, his main opponent at the party’s gubernatorial primary election and some members of the party’s State Working Committee (SWC), to hijack and steal his mandate from him by declaring Ojeshina winner through consensus arrangement.
Recall that Oshinowo defeated Ojeshina, in a landslide victory with 56 votes to 41 at the governorship primary election, held at Sweet Sensation, on May 30, 2022, in Abeokuta, in the presence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and security agencies, as well as party’s representative from Abuja.
He was declared winner by the party’s Chairman, Electoral Committee, Isah Adamu Aji, who announced that out of 100 delegates, 97 voted, 3 were recorded void votes and Oshinowo scored 56, thus making him the state’s governorship candidate of the party in the 2023 election.
But, Oshinowo while reacting to the news making round that Ojeshina is now the governorship candidate of SDP in the state, said that he had headed to the Federal High court in Abeokuta, to challenge that latter’s candidacy over the primary election.
He prayed the court to stop Ojeshina as SDP gubernatorial candidate for the 2023 election and to also stop the party from substituting his name on INEC’s list as the governorship candidate of the party in the forthcoming election.
The State Chairman of SDP, Yinka Ola-Williams, at Sweet Sensation in Abeokuta, had declared and presented Ojeshina as the governorship candidate of the party through consensus arrangement, few weeks after Oshinowo emerged the gubernatorial flagbearer of the party.
The former Alliance For Democracy (AD) governorship candidate, who kicked against the move, insisted that he won’t give up his mandate to Ojeshina, whom he alleged was in plot with some party members to steal his mandate and sell it to the incumbent Governor, Dapo Abiodun, to win the 2023 election.
He divulged that Ojeshina, a former commissioner of Environment in the state and some bad elements in the party, were too little to steal his mandate, adding that their attempt to do so was borne out of poverty in the country.
He urged Ojeshina and his cohorts to desist from trying to steal his mandate or face the full wrath of the law, noting that they were bad losers, who want to merge the party’s structure with All Progressive Congress (APC) to pave way for Abiodun’s victory in the 2023 election.
Oshinowo, who described some members of the party leadership supporting Ojeshina as ‘brainless’, said that he was fully aware of their game plan to deny a formidable candidate like him his mandate and give the gubernatorial ticket to Ojeshina to allegedly form an alliance with the state governor.
He expressed confidence of victory at the court and the 2023 governorship election in the state, while charging the members involved to have a rethink, describing them and Ojeshina as bunch of scammers and jokers, whom he said would lose the ticket to him again.
Oshinowo, while accusing Ojeshina of covetousness and theft, said that the latter would soon learn his lesson of disobeying the Ten Commandments of God, by trying to steal his mandate with the help of some party agents, when he reclaims his mandate and declared the authentic candidate.
He, therefore, appealed to his supporters to remain calm, and eschew violence, saying that the ‘charlatans who have no respect for the laws of the land’ would be stopped at the court and end up losing to him.
“We have taken the matter to court because we believe in non-violence, he (Ojeshina) is just a bad loser, actually he is a bad loser and they are just bad losers.
“You see, these are things that he cannot do alone and of course you see this is the result of the poverty all over the place. It was the hand of bad element in the party and it is also a sign of hunger, and poverty around, I mean why will people manipulate the freest election?
“My mandate cannot be taken by Tony Ojeshina, not only him, even his agents, because he is not acting alone, he is too little, too little to be doing what he is doing, he lost and he would soon learn that stealing and covetousness are part of the two of the most important commandment in the bible because he is a covetous man and a thief.
“He is just a bad loser, a terrible loser. All the support that he has been getting, we understand the game plan, the whole idea is that they don’t want a formidable candidate against the sitting governor, so that is the game plan and they want to sell the mandate of the people, because to me he is not a serious candidate. They are scammers and they are just bunch of jokers.
“It was a plan to use Ojeshina and the party to merge with APC ahead the 2023 election. I remain the authentic candidate of SDP, by the grace of God, nothing will change that.
“These are signs of the bad time in our country. The electoral act is so clear that whoever emerges from the primaries will be the candidate, I remain the candidate and I don’t wish to sell the mandate, the governorship seat of Ogun State is not for sale, the governoship ticket is not for sale, I will urge those who are thinking and wishing that this mandate can be sold to go and have a rethink, I intend to run a robust campaign, I intend to bring myself to the fore and ensure that the good people of Ogun State will choose right this time, we are tired of having accidental governors in Ogun State.
“I will not sell my mandate to anybody regardless of who, and those charlatans who are parading themselves, who are planning to hijack the mandate, need to have a rethink, they need to get a job, they need to get a life, and the mandate is not in doubt and I am confident of my victory at the court.
“The electoral act is so clear that whoever wins the primary election will be the candidate. And if some petty officials of the party are being bribed or cajoled into doing things, that is their problem, I can’t stop them, they are adults, but they just have no brain, they are brainless.
“We remain focused and we don’t want all these distractions, they are just confused and in the midst of their confusion they are misbehaving, the mandate is clear, the mandate will be upheld by every court in the land and we are going to run this race to the end and get victory for Ogun people in 2023”, he added.
Deji Oshinowo
