Hon. Sunday Bisi, the Osun State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has declared that he remains the authentic leader of the party in the state, describing his purported removal by a so-called stakeholders’ forum as illegal and of no effect.
In a statement personally signed on Thursday in Osogbo, Bisi said an unlawful assembly lacked the authority to remove an elected chairman with a subsisting tenure.
“The forum lacks the legal powers or mandate to remove or tamper with the elected structures of the party. I remain the chairman. As the PDP has no candidate for the August election, the party has endorsed Governor Ademola Adeleke for re-election,” he said.
He added: “That is the fact of the situation, as the public is aware of the leadership crisis within the PDP. Our elected officials, minus the governor and deputy governor, remain in the PDP. Our party has no candidate and we have accordingly endorsed Governor Adeleke.”
Bisi dismissed contrary claims, saying those behind them belonged to “a small group” that did not support Adeleke during the 2022 governorship election.
“The mainstream of the PDP, covering all our local government and ward structures, supports our leadership and the direction we took to endorse the governor,” he said.
Responding to the meeting reportedly held by the stakeholders’ group, Bisi described comments attributed to former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola as “an open betrayal and a continuation of a failed 2022 plot to stop Governor Adeleke.”
He added: “The division within the PDP once threatened the candidacy of our governor. The right thing was done by the governor to seek a platform for re-election. Prince Oyinlola was even the first to make the suggestion. This minor rebellion has failed before it starts.
“The mainstream of Osun PDP stands by the governor, by our leadership and by our elected mandate as state officers, which cannot be truncated by any unelected, illegal and unauthorised group.”