Former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Otunba Segun Showunmi, has vowed to fight the ongoing battle for the party’s governorship ticket to the end.
In an interview on ThisMorning show with Yori Folarin, the PDP aspirant who wanted to become the governorship candidate of the party stated that he will eventually be declared as the governorship candidate otherwise the party will eventually see the interpretation of its top fully in the fullness of time.
Mr Sowunmi, who stated that he did not want to dwell on the crisis, went on to say that it was necessary to clarify issues.
He said “I had asked early, and said an adult delegate primaries cannot be held when one of the contestants has alleged and said on tape, video, and newspapers that the exco to oversee this matter bought his form.
“As a responsible party member, I wrote to the party that we have a few options: dissolve them for abuse of office and violation of the PDP constitution, reconstitute a small panel to look into this matter, and give us something that appears to be a modicum of fairness.
“I gave a number of sound and progressive advice, and I explained that if they failed to do the needful, I would have no alternative but to seek redress in court.
“When they didn’t move on time, i took them to court. I kept advising them about different cases which were pending.
“They attempted to impose a faith accompli on me due to their persistent inability to follow even their own rules and almost acting as perpetual contemnors of court”.
Mr Sowunmi explained further that for some reasons, his self-jurisdiction application was denied without going into the substance of the case.
“Painstakingly and diligently i went all the way to the court of appeal, before we did anything like primaries and the court of appeal has ruled”.
He said the Court of Appeal had been very thorough in its judgment and had given him victory in that first step, adding that every Nigerian must be able to exercise his legal rights within the law.
Sowunmi went on to say that democracy requires that everyone be given a fair chance to access, and the judiciary, as the pillar that keeps society running, requires that anyone who comes to court be given a fair hearing.
The Ogun governorship candidate expressed concern that the party, which has been in existence since 1998, still has integrity issues in their processes.
“What I am fighting for is to insist that democratic institutions, parties are the first safe guard in a democracy and therefore they owe it to everybody to ensure that they do not put faith accompli on the people” Sowunmi said.
