Ogun 2015: Bankole Not Qualified To Be Governor – Kashamu

bankoleAs the 2015 general election in Ogun State draws nearer, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got a major boost in its quest to reclaim power as it received defectors from the Labour Party (LP) and All Progressives Congress (APC).

The defectors included about 660 loyalists of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as well as 3, 210 from APC and LP, who joined the Chief Bayo Dayo-led executive committee, at a reception held in Sagamu and Ijebu-Igbo.

At the event yesterday, which was attended by party leaders in the South-west, 400 Obasanjo loyalists from Ijebu East Local Government Area led by Sakiru Olujoye, 260 women also loyal to the former president led by Remi Ogunjobi as well as 210 members of APC and LP defected to PDP.

Chairman, Mobilisation and Organisation committee of the PDP in South-west, Prince Buruji Kashamu, while welcoming the defectors to the party used the occasion to take a swipe at former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, who has been tipped as a governorship hopeful, saying he is not qualified to be the next governor of the state.

He accused Bankole of attempting to break the legally constituted executive of the party in the state because of his ambition, claiming that the former speaker was busy dropping the names of President Goodluck Jonathan and national chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu to cajole the people in the state into supporting his ambition.

It would be recalled that Bankole, at a stakeholders’ meeting held last Friday in Abeokuta, in response to calls by leaders of the party in Ogun central that he has their support to vie for the governorship position, said he was not interested in any group within the party, instead urging all the leaders and members to unite for the sake of the party.

Kashamu said: “We all know that he does not even have the quality to be one of those aspiring for the governorship seat in the state. You can see that for four years that he was Speaker, he did not know anything about the party and did not as well contribute to the development of the party.

“We just heard that he wanted to contest under the party, he has never come to the party, he has never met with all the genuine leaders. Apart from that Dimeji Bankole is still having a lot of problems hanging on his neck.

“What he is trying to do is to break the authentic and legally constituted executive in the state. He has been going everywhere in Abuja to ensure that the state party executive is re-constituted. He thought that a lot of our national leaders are not law abiding. May be, he has a caterpillar to destroy the legally constituted executive council in the state. This is what we don’t understand.

“So, that is why I am telling you authoritatively that Dimeji Bankole is a joker. He is not ready.  If it is true that he wants to contest on the platform of the party, then, he needs to follow the normal channel that he is supposed to follow and he has to appreciate those who have been working for the PDP”.

When asked if the state party will field Bankole as its governorship candidate in 2015 in the state, if he takes the normal channel, Kashamu said: “Of course, if you pass through the normal channel, going through all the leaders in the state, all leaders should welcome him that is the normal practice.

“As  you can see, my doors are open but, I don’t want people who will cause a lot of problems,  I don’t want anybody who will cause disarray in the party,  PDP is balanced in the state,  people have decamped  from APC and LP to the party.

“So, I can never accept anybody coming from nowhere and creating a lot of problems, using the name of the President and the name of the party chairman, telling a lot of lies to break the Exco in the state; that will be very difficult”, he said.