After two days of close- door
meetings with aggrieved chairmanship candidates and party leaders in the south
west, the chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Committee on
Reconciliation, and Governor of Bayelsa State, Honourable Henry Seriake
Dickson, has declared that the committee had achieved its mission in the
region.
The Governor said the leaders of
the party visited by the committee made clear statements about their
commitments to the unity of the PDP in the South West.
The Special Adviser to Dickson on
Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, quoted the governor as having made the
comment while speaking with journalists shortly after a meeting with a former
Governorship Candidate òf the party in Lagos State and PDP Chairmanship
Aspirant, Chief Jimmy Agbaje, in Lagos on Friday.
Dickson and members of the
committee had earlier held a close- door meeting with former Deputy National
Chairman, South, Chief Olabode George, and other top members of the party in
the South West in Lagos on Thursday night.
Present at the meeting were a
former Minister of Works, Senator Adesewe Ogunlewe, former Deputy Governor of
Lagos, Sen. Kowoworola Akerele-Bucknor, former Minister of State for Defence,
Erelu Olusola Obada, former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope,
former National Vice Chairman, South West, Ishola Filani, former Minister,
Elder Wole Oyelese, PDP chieftain, Othman Shodipe and others.
Dickson said that the PDP leaders
in the South West displayed understanding on the need to have a strong united political
platform to rescue the country from the current situation of hopelessness.
The Governor said the committee
was pleased with the individual and collective responses and the willingness of
the South West PDP leaders to build a strong and cohesive party ahead of the
2019 general elections.
He said, “We think that our
reconciliation efforts in the South West have gone on very well, our party
leaders have left nobody in doubt as to their commitment, genuine and abiding
commitment, and loyalty to our great party.
“They understand that we have no
option, and that all people of good will need to be in a formidable platform: a
non-religion, non sectarian, all inclusive big umbrella that would unite our
party more, unite our nation more and deliver Nigeria from the situation of
hopelessness that we now find themselves.
“I think all of us are united to
do what is right for our country and we are grateful as a committee to our
party leaders and we count on them particularly the leadership of the party in
the South West to reunite the party, to build a cohesive and strong party. We
have assured them that moving forward, the South West would be a critical
pillar of support upon which our future success will be built and they have got
that message.
“We are pleased with the
individual and collective responses and activities, and these are people we
know very well so we have no cause to doubt them. So we are going with that
message of solidarity and continued membership and service of our party back to
the leadership at the national level on whose behalf we are here and in no
distant time Nigerians will see that all PDP leaders would work hand in hand
moving forward.”
In his remarks, the party’s
Governorship candidate for Lagos State in the 2015 general elections, Agbaje,
described the meeting as productive in the concerted bid to strengthen the
party.
He reaffirmed his hope in the PDP
and commended the efforts being made to address the observed hitches in the
last convention.
Agbaje Who spoke in the presence of
the South West National Vice Chairman of the PDP, Chief Eddy Olafeso, said that
the membership of the party was engrossed in moves to retrieve power from the
ruling All Progressive Congress in 2019.
“I think it has been a very good
meeting moving forward. For some of us, it is about moving the party forward.
There were hitches here and there, but I think we are trying to smoothen those
rough edges to kind of smoothen them. And I can see that we are coming out much
happier than when we went into the convention.
“We have every faith that the PDP
is going to remain strong. We have every hope and we are working strongly to
ensure that we take over power come 2019. To do that we are going to do
everything possible, bring everybody on board, we are going to sell ourselves
to the people and by God’s Grace we will be there.”
Earlier Chief Bode George who was
also a contender for the PDP National Chairmanship spot had urged the PDP to
put its house in order in accordance with justice, fairness and equity which he
said were the three pillars on which the party was founded.
He stressed that the real battle
before the party was in 2019, adding that the members should refrain from
demonizing or decimating any other group within the party.
He said that he does not have
anything against the emergence of Prince Uche Secondus as he (Chief Bode
George) played a role in his political rise.
“Yes the convention has come and
gone. No qualms about Secondus. I have played a role in his coming and he has
perpetually reflected that in all he does. The visit today is so timely. I have
refused to make further comments, because as a party man, I can not be part of
those that will destroy the house that I built, that is not in our culture.
“I want to assure you that yes we
have debated, we have analyzed, and we have come with the best suggested
solutions to prepare us for the future.
The campaigns were like national
presidential campaign. It was refreshing for me.
“Of course, to err is human, I am
happy you are here, we will do the analyses, we will discuss among ourselves; I
can assure you that at tthe end of the day, with people like you and the men in
your committee, we will be able to analyze it, so that those who are going to
be at the helm of affairs will now know better, as we head for the real battle.
“The real battle is out there one
year from now. We must strictly put our house in order with justice fairness
and equity as the three solid pillars of our party.”
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