Obasanjo, Abiola families in face-off over senatorial seat

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Late MKO Abiola.

FOR the families of the late acclaimed winner of the June12, 1993 election; Bashorun Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, these may not be the best of times.
Two daughters of the families are now at each others jugular over the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] ticket for the Ogun Central Senatorial District for the forth coming elections.

Lola Abiola-Edewor, daughter of MKO Abiola was a member of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003 under the aegis of the Alliance for Democracy, AD, before crossing to the PDP.
Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello was a Commissioner for Health in Ogun State between 2003 and 2007 and became Senator for the area in 2007. Both are from Abeokuta north Local Government. While Lola is Gbagura, Iyabo is Owu.
Factions
Lola Abiola Edewor belongs to the Governor Olugbenga Daniel faction while Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello belongs to the Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye faction. The two camps— Governor Olugbenga Daniel faction led by the Chairman of the party, Elder Joju Fadairo and the Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye faction with Bashorun Dayo Soremi as Chairman— had been at daggers drawn for sometime over the control of the party with each side claiming to be the authentic, which led to the holding of the separate congresses even from the ward level.
While the Joju Fadairo group insists that they were duly elected at the State Congress, the Dayo Soremi group insists on the harmonization of the State Executive Council of the party as directed by the National Working Committee of the party.
The Jubril Martins Kuye faction is believed to have the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Senators Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and Lekan Mustapha, Chief Sule Onabiyi and about four members of the House of Representatives as Speaker Dimeji Bankole is said to have crossed over to the Daniel group.
In the Daniel camp are members of the Party Executive, Commissioners, Special adviser and Assistants and Local Government Chairmen. Speaker Dimeji Bankole’s change of camp was said to have accounted for his election last week when the duo of the former speaker of the Ogun State House, Mrs. Titi Oseni and another member of the House, Mr. Fasiu Bakenne were forced to step down for him paving way for him to be elected unopposed.
Separate congresses
It was in this wise that the two camps organized separate congresses for all the primaries. While in the Ogun Central Senatorial District, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo Bello won unopposed at the primaries of the Kuye group which was held at the Akin Olugbade Social Centre, Lola Abiola Edewor won with 567 votes to defeat Mr. Jelili Kayode Amusan who had 483 votes while the other three aspirants shared the remaining votes.
Speaking about the development, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello said her own group’s primaries was the authentic one because it was backed by law. She said: “You can see the crowd of delegates. It is overwhelming. It has been a struggle and what we are facing is the challenge of some people trying to disenfranchise thousands.
“I am a lawmaker and we have the law backing us. We have the court order; we have the directive of the National Working Committee for the harmonization. It is just that Daniel wants to frustrate everybody and it is going to be a tough one for him”
The Senator explained that her group was in possession of two orders of the court which has wrested powers from the Joju Fadairo’s leadership and another letter by the National Working Committee of the party which directed that the executive of the party be harmonized.
“We have done the harmonization and Bashorun Dayo Soremi is the Chairman and they now said that they will not agree, after the harmonization has been done, and they insist that they would disenfranchise people who do not agree with them. They are only wasting their time.”
I won’t step down -Lola Abiola-Edewor
But Lola Abiola-Edewor, following a report that her election may be annulled, said: “We won’t allow injustice. We will go to any extent to challenge it. My father stood his ground and died. It is my mandate; I have my certificate signed by the Chairman of the election panel and the observers.
The certificate is with me. We will take this to a logical conclusion. They should stop picking unpopular candidates for this party; that is why they are losing states all over the country because they picked unpopular candidates.
“Nobody will ask me to step down. My father did not step down. Omoakin ni mi (I’m a fearless and brave child). My father did not step down, he died instead. I, Omolola Abiola-Edewor, by the grace of God will not accept injustice. We will take it to any length.
“What did the Abiola family use to offend them? What did Abiola do to them? They cancelled my father’s election, now they want to cancel my own. This will be their last attempt. It will never happen. Those who killed my father cannot kill me and if they want to kill me, I’m waiting for them.”
She wondered why Obasanjo-Bello should be treated with undue favouritism when she submitted herself to screening at the PDP State Secretariat but deliberately refused to show up for the primaries supervised by the National Assembly Election Panel of the PDP.
“This is the designated spot for election; that is where we are voting governorship primaries today. This is where we held the senatorial election (on Friday) and Iyabo Obasanjo refused to show up.”