By Olalekan Badmus
The recent news of the expulsion of Omooba Dotun Babayemi (ODB) from
the PDP by the party executive of PDP ward 2, Ayedaade LG executives
is indeed a welcome development and one decision that has been
expected to be taken much earlier.
For those who have not been following, ODB was among the six aspirants
that purchased the PDP gubernatorial form ahead of the primary, he
went through the screening at the PDP National headquarters alongside
others and got the clearance of the party to contest the primary
scheduled for the 8th of March, 2022 at the Osogbo Township Stadium.
In an interesting turn of events and rather surprising an act by a
lawyer, ODB failed to appear at the approved venue for the primary by
the NWC with representatives of INEC in attendance as required by the
new electoral act.
He however decided to proceed to another venue with the support and
backing of some fellow party elders doing his bidding and organize a
sit-down with themselves which they later called “a factional
primary”.
This was perhaps the greatest mistake any aspirant can make as a
foundation for his political ambition and it’s laughable that a lawyer
can be caught in such an act that contradicts the law and also run
against the principle of internal democracy within the party.
It can be established from the above that; ODB did not contest in the
primary election of the Osun PDP, a key criteria in determining the
validity of nomination for the main election. This has been
established by the rulings of the Federal High court and indeed the
Appellate Court on the subject matter.
In a move to ensure peace and cohesion within the party, the
leadership of the party at the National and State level have at
several times intervene for ODB to reason along the legality of his
case not for fear of losing but for the sake of maintaining peace and
order within the party.
It is however laughable that rather than discussing the substance of
the subject matter, ODB at every opportunity has decided to use his
purported case as negotiation tool to arm-twist the party into
unilaterally cede positions that have been democratically contested
and winner emerged to some of his backers who have lost out in
subsequent primary election into the legislative arm both at the state
and federal level.
I just finished reading his reaction to the news of his expulsion and
the only takeaway fact from it is that, the decision of the party not
to commit electoral offense by hijacking ticket from valid winners of
primary election thereby avoiding future litigation from such people
is the sole reason Omooba Dotun decided to burn down the house which
once shield him from the wilderness.
It is shocking that he made bold to confirm that he demanded for one
senatorial ticket, four HOR tickets and 10 HOA tickets when the crux
of the current matter is the validity of the Governorship primary
election thereby confirming the insinuation that he is being used by
people to cause legal confusion within the party at a time we are
warming up to take over the reign of governance in the state.
The substance of his litigation is indeed a pre-election matter and
assuming without conceding to the fact that he has a valid case, his
refusal to participate in the NWC backed primary has made him
impossible to be a direct beneficiary of any rulings/judgement. One
need to ask who is OMooba Dotun Babayemi trying to front for?
Reading the statement of his expulsion, it was alleged that ODB has
set up parallel party organ at the ward level across the LG which
raises serious concern as to his true intention of causing division
within the in the party and his refusal to respond to the invitation
to respond to the allegations shows that he’s not interested in peace
and has no regard for constitutional authority.
This is why the decision of the ward 2, Ayedaade LG’s executive’s
decision to expel him on the basis of anti-party is a deserving one
and a step in the right direction.
Lastly, I can assure the good people of Osun state and PDP faithfuls
that on the basis of the aforementioned, no need to panic as the
governor elect emerged from a validly contested primary organized by
the NWC of the PDP and duly supervised by INEC as required by the
electoral law and any litigation to that effect is at best an exercise
of one’s human right which must be respected but one whose outcome
cannot jeopardize our collective victory.
Imole Osun is here and will be here forever.
…Olalekan S. Badmus (Phoenix) writes from Osogbo, Osun state
