Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Segun Showunmi, has described the adoption of Senator representing Ogun West, Solomon Adeola (Yayi), as the consensus governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as state capture, and it must be resisted.
PrimeTimes Nigeria recall that the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, made the announcement during a stakeholders meeting on Monday.
Adeola was adopted during a strategic caucus meeting held at the party’s secretariat on Abiola Way, Abeokuta.
However, Showunmi, in a statement on Tuesday titled, “From Magbon to Now: We Will Not Be Conquered. Ogun’s Line in the Sand: Resistance to State Capture,” warned that a crude instrument of control is eroding the state’s long-standing reputation for independent thought.
While expressing concern that those currently attempting to dictate the state’s direction lacked a demonstrable record of public service or private conduct, Showunmi maintained that the history of Ogun State is defined by its ability to challenge entrenched systems, from the fall of the Oyo Empire to the modern era.
He challenged the legitimacy of the APC political arrangement, arguing that while consensus is a valid internal party mechanism, it becomes an act of imposition when it lacks the foundation of integrity.
Showunmi maintained that APC’s stance was not just the arrogance of those seeking to impose their will, but of the resolve or complicity of a people once known for their independence.
He said, “Yes, a political party has the right to choose its internal mechanisms, even if that means adopting ‘consensus’ as its preferred pathway. But across every serious political system where consensus has credibility, it rests on one indispensable foundation: integrity. Without that, consensus degenerates into imposition.
“That is precisely the issue before us. Those now attempting to foist this arrangement on Ogun State bring with them no demonstrable record of integrity neither in private conduct, nor in public service, nor in any coherent understanding of the responsibilities of governance. In such circumstances, what is being presented as consensus is, in reality, a crude instrument of control.
“This is how state capture begins. And it must be resisted. We are therefore confronted with a defining test: not just of the arrogance of those seeking to impose their will, but of the resolve or complicity of a people once known for their independence.
“We cannot, in this generation, especially within the framework of a democracy, accept the status of a conquered people.
“No justification political convenience, party loyalty, or manufactured inevitability is sufficient to compel a free people to return to servitude.”