The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said there would not be any anointed candidate for any elective office towards the elections in February 2015. Chairman of the PDP, Ogun State chapter, Bayo Dayo disclosed this while welcoming defectors from other political parties into the PDP fold.
Speaking at the 5,000-seater Goodluck Jonathan Political Centre in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State on Sunday evening, the state chairman said the party was bent on ensuring a level playing field for the aspirants.
According to him, no aspirant would be cheated, because all of them would be given equal opportunity to show why they should fly the party’s flag in 2015.
“Only credible candidates will scale through in PDP, especially in Ogun State. We will be transparent and honest in picking our candidates,” he stated.
Receiving the defectors earlier, Dayo said they joined the PDP because of bad leadership in their former parties. Citing Ogun State as an example, he said defectors from the All Progressives Congress (APC) left the party for PDP because of bad governance and the fact that the youths among them wanted a generational change.
Speaking in the same vein, Alhaja Salmot Badru, a former deputy governor of the state, commended Prince Buruji Kashamu, leader of the party in the South West and chairman (South West) of PDP Mobilisation, Organisation and Contact Committee.
She said when the PDP was falling apart, it was Kashamu that became the rallying point, thus putting the party together again, adding that the solid PDP structure in Ogun State under Kashamu, compelled defectors to be trooping to the party. She enjoined all party members to work tirelessly so that the party could record a landslide victory in every elective office in 2015, especially in Ogun State
Badru reiterated that only credible candidate must be picked from among the legion of aspirants, adding that by so doing, PDP would continue to stand as the leading party.
Leading hundreds of defectors, one after the other, to join PDP were Alhaji Onifade Jimoh Adesina, a former Labour Party leader in Ifo Local Government area and the Secretary of NUPENG, Ejigbo depot; Aremo Tola Alimi, erstwhile Labour Party chairman in Ogun Waterside, who led other executive members and four ward chairmen to the PDP; Mr. Sadiq Akeem of the All Progressives Congress in Ijebu North Ward 7 comprising Oru, Awa Ilaporu while Mrs. Roseline Oyibo, a former women leader in APC Ogun Watewrside, also defected with her supporters.

2015: No anointed candidate –Ogun PDP chair