The Osun state chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ademola Ishola, on Thursday, May 24, in Osogbo declared that the SDP has welcome former deputy governor of the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore to the party saying that he is a bonafide member of the party.
Nigerian Tribune reports that Ishola said Omisore who is an erstwhile chairman, Senate Appropriation Committee is also one of the governorship aspirants, contending for the ticket of the SDP ahead of the September 22 gubernatorial poll in Osun state.
According to him, “We have welcomed Senator Iyiola Omisore into our party. He is a bonafide member of the SDP in Osun state.
“He is already with us. He has been working with us since the last Osun west senatorial by-election. He has registered as a member of our party at his ward in Ile-Ife.
“We are going to conduct a primary election for all our gubernatorial aspirants. That is a normal thing as far as the constitution is concerned.
“That is what the constitution of our party says. Presently, we have four governorship aspirants and all of them will participate in the primary election, where our candidate for the election would emerge.”
It was learnt that the governorship aspirant of the SDP, Kola Oladeji recently said Omisore was not yet a member of the party, let alone be its governorship candidate.
He argued that the fear of governorship primaries that forced Senator Omisore out of PDP, awaits him in SDP, saying “no one will hand over the party’s gubernatorial ticket to him, without going through the rigorous primary processes instituted by the party platform”.
Oladeji specifically stated that until Omisore is able to legitimately perfect his membership, he remains “just a friend of SDP,” pointing out that available records at his disposal have not shown that the former federal lawmaker is yet a member of SDP.
Though, Omisore was yet to officially make public his decision to leave the party.
The report stated that his decision to leave the PDP was prompted by his governorship ambition in the September 22 gubernatorial election in the state.
