The call for the arrest of a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, by a chieftain of the party, Segun Sowunmi, who lost in his bid to become the PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State, has been described as a sign of frustration and disillusionment over his loss.
Reacting to Sowunmi’s call for George’s arrest, the Special Adviser on Media to Chief Olabode George, Olusegun Edwards, in a statement signed by him, stated that the attack on the elder Statesman was unwarranted.
He noted that Sowunmi was jaundiced and parochial in his thinking to have made such a disdainful statement against a reverred person like Chief George.
“He (Sowunmi) is suffering from the disillusionment of his loss of PDP’s governorship ticket in Ogun State through the ballot box and the court process he instituted against the party flag bearer, Chief Ladi Adebutu, who has been recognised as the undisputed candidate of PDP by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Ogun State,” he stated.
Edwards, therefore, advised Sowunmi to direct his frustration to his alleged traducers in Ogun State, rather than take it up with Chief George.
He advised him not to use the name of the former deputy national chairman of PDP as a springboard, to gain the attention of the party’s top echelon.
He noted that Chief George has always harped on justice and fairness in the PDP and Sowunmi’s travails in Ogun State cannot be equated to warrant a call for the arrest of the former Deputy National Chairman, accusing him of “playing dangerous politics.”
“What an insult! Sowunmi should rather look for other ways to please Atiku, the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, and the Director-General of the PDP, if he nurses the desire to do so.
“It is the height of unpardonable disrespect for Sowunmi to raise his voice against a respectable Yoruba elder statesman in the calibre of Chief Olabode George. It is disdainful for him to be disrespectful to the man old enough to be Sowunmi’s father, a respectable figure, who Sowunmi’s elders won’t dare talk to disrespectfully,” he added.
According to Edwards, Sowunmi carries a morale burden as stated by the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, who condemned Sowunmi’s continual action of parading himself as a gubernatorial candidate of the party when he did not take part in the party’s primaries.
He said by Adebutu’s position, “Sowunmi is misleading the public by claiming to have won the party’s primaries.
“The PDP candidate, Adebutu, has told Sowunmi to purge himself of the illusion of becoming the PDP candidate in Ogun State as there is nothing like a factional candidate in an election, because there can only be factional aspirants and a single candidate.
“While it’s not totally strange that the political landscape is getting charged with all kinds of raw emotions, jejune sentiments, deliberate vending of falsehood, half-truths, flagellation of toxic propaganda, amplification of misinformation and disinformation and all what is not, all in a bid to cast aspersions on on perceived enemies, we view Sowunmi’s ill tempered disrespect for an elderstatesman as a taboo,” Edward stated.
