A former Commissioner for Information and
Strategy in Ogun State, Sina Kawonise, has
accused his former benefactor, a former
governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel of
misleading his followers into the Peoples
Democratic Party. Kawonise said this at the Labour Party Secretariat,
Adatan, Abeokuta shortly after he was
announced as the party’s governorship candidate
in the state in the 2015 elections. He had served under Daniel’s administration
during his second term in office. He added that those who defected with Daniel
that were promised automatic waivers, had
suddenly discovered it was not true. He noted that the defectors were being treated as
second ‘class members.’ However, in a swift reaction, the former
governor had denied this claim, stressing that
Kawonise was being blinded by his ambition. He had reacted through one of his media aides,
Mr. Steve Oliyide. He said, “Kawonise is obviously an ambition-
driven person who was nowhere when Otunba
Gbenga Daniel was campaigning for
governorship in 2003 and 2011. “I wish him luck
in his political sojourn.” It would be recalled that Daniel and some of his
followers hitherto in the LP defected at an
elaborate reunification rally last week Tuesday. The defectors had claimed that LP was dead in
the state. But the state chairman of the party, Mr. Olabode
Simeon; the Secretary, Sunday Oginni and the
financial Secretary, Arabambi Abayomi said they
had consulted widely and endorsed Kawonise as
the party governorship candidate. Kawonise, said he refused to follow Daniel to the
PDP because “it is a party of godfathers that is
only interested in imposing their godsons on the
people.” He said, the present composition of the PDP in the
state could not serve the interest of the people. He said, “If you look at the array of godfathers in
the PDP, you will know that the party can never
serve the people of Ogun State. “Those who defected were misled that they will
get universal waivers, but, unfortunately for
them when they got there, the party did not give
them waivers. “Even, those who had defected to the PDP have
not got waiver. So, as I speak with you, those
who defected cannot participate in the delegate
election and cannot be voted for. When they said
this, our people have started coming back in
droves.” Oliyide further said Daniel has played his politics
in the state and Nigeria at large in a more
responsive and responsible way and took the
interest of followers seriously. “Is he saying his appointment as a commissioner
was also misleading? “In 2003, when Otunba Gbenga Daniel contested
for election in Ogun State defeating an
incumbent, a Sina Kawonise was nowhere to be
found. “The Labour Party he is now carrying around, is
he the creator or is he the one that mobilised
people into the party? Where did he get his 25
per cent people that have returned to the party?
He should show the world. We shall not continue
to bandy words with ambition-driven character. 2015 is around the corner and we shall know
who is misleading.”