Ogun 2015: PDP woos ex-Speaker Bankole for Ogun governorship

Former Speaker Bankole calls for a united PDP.

The troubled Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ogun State Chapter, has appealed to former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, to contest the 2015 governorship election in the state on the party’s platform.
Some PDP leaders in the state met on Friday at a stakeholders meeting in Abeokuta, the state capital, to woo the former number four citizen.

The party faithful from Ogun Central Senatorial District converged at Daktad Hotel, where the meeting to convince Mr. Bankole took place; as majority of the contributors said they see him as someone who could lead the party to victory in the 2015 elections.

One of the party leaders, Habeeb Ajayi, said they had considered all options and were convinced that Mr. Bankole remained a rallying point if the party would be victorious in 2015. He asked Mr. Bankole to pick the party’s governorship ticket when the time comes.

A former member of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Johnson Fatoki, in his own remark, said the party chieftains and members in all the three senatorial districts had resolved to adopt the former speaker as the party’s flagbearer in the next governorship election in the state.

Mr. Fatoki said as a result of Mr. Bankole’s relevance in the party, some members of the party who had decamped to Labour Party, LP, in the state decided to return. He mentioned a serving member of the House of Assembly, Remmy Hazzan, as one of those who had returned to PDP because of Mr. Bankole.

In his response at the meeting, Mr. Bankole said “our house needs to be put in order first.”
He said the failure of the PDP during the 2011 elections in the state was the fault of all members, including himself.

The former Speaker said he does not support the factionalisation of the PDP. He appealed to feuding members to close ranks. He also advised members to allow former members interested in returning to the party.