Gbolarumi picks governorship form, accuses Makinde of destroying Oyo PDP
By Richard Thomas, Ibadan
Former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi has obtained the governorship form to run for the 2023 election in the state.
He disclosed this at a press conference in Ibadan on Tuesday, saying, his decision to vie for the office was to restore the dignity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Alhaji Gbolarumi, who berated Governor Seyi Makinde for the poor management of the PDP in the state said he is qualified to contest for the office.
“I took the step because as a bonafide member of the PDP, I am qualified to run for the office. My decision to contest for the office is to set the record straight. If you believe you are qualified, then you are eligible,” he said.
The former deputy governor berated Makinde for not complying with codes and conducts of the PDP.
He also blamed him for not providing good governance and ensure probity and participatory democracy which guarantees human rights and fundamental freedom for all members.
According to him, in spite of all proposed interventions by stakeholders of the party, the governor has disappointed members, elders and stakeholders of the PDP who worked assiduously for his victory in 2019, adding that Makinde never wanted to relate at the party platform for deliberations and suggestions on how to move the state forward.
“Governor Makinde has disappointed the people on security, education, health care, agriculture, entrenchment of rule of law among others. Rather, he has decided to run the state and the party single handedly, a development which has undermined development of the state.
“We have been informed that he, the governor is recruiting thugs and cultists that will help him rig the 2023 election. I am very sure all his plan will fail because he has betrayed the trust and mandate of the people,” he said.
Gbolarumi, who served as deputy to late Otunba Adebayo Alao Akala decried how Makinde denied many party members who struggled for his victory at the 2019 polls of appointments, but rather preferred people he tagged technocrats, describing his actions as an act of betrayal.
He said: “PDP belongs to all of us, but the governor is acting as if the party belongs to him. He is the one sharing and imposing positions on the other members. His actions negate the ethics, codes of conducts of the PDP.”
According to him, the policies of Governor Makinde has not in any way gingered economic development, adding that his excessive borrowing has continued to grow huge.
He admonished the governor to nurture democratic ideals and traditions in order to sustain the PDP, just as he urged him to reconcile the teams set up by party at the national level solely to address all the internal problems of the party in the state.
