The South-West Zone of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the party’s presidential candidate,
Alhaji Abubakar, to give more key positions to the zone if he emerges as
president.
The South-West Vice-Chairman of
the party, Dr Eddy Olefeso, made the demand in Lagos on Friday night, at a
meeting of key members across the six states in the zone.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports the meeting, which lasted hours, had in attendance a former Deputy
National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George; the current Deputy
National Chairman (South),Chief Yemi Akinwonmi; and a former National Vice
Chairman of the party, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo.
Also present were former Minister
of State for Defence, Mrs Sola Obada; a former Deputy Governor of Ogun State,
Alhaja Makanjuola Badru; and a member of the National Assembly, Sen. Abiodun
Olujimi.
The party’s governorship
candidate in Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde; the governorship candidate in Ogun, Mr
Ladi Adebutu; and a former governorship aspirant in Osun State, Chief Akin
Ogunbiyi, were also at the meeting, among others.
Olafeso said though the promise
of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) slot by Atiku was a
good development, the zone deserved more key political and government positions.
The Vice-Chairman said that the
zone had been schemed out in the power arrangement of the party for the past
few years.
Olafeso said for Atiku to give
the zone a sense of belonging and compensate “for the years of abandonment”, he
should zone key positions of the Chief of Staff to the President and
Àttorney-General of the Federation to the South-West in addition to the SGF.
He said the South-West had the
second highest voting population in the country and would demand its fair share
of political positions if PDP wins in 2019.
“We have been denied for too
long. In 2011, the country under the control of our party zoned the position of
the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the zone and it was taken away.
“And from 2011 to 2015, we were
left just like that and the reverberating effect of that abandonment is the
reason why we are still having the hangover of neglect till today.
“Now we are here again, the party
is working with a zone with 14million votes, the second largest in the country.
We refuse and we will not accept where we finish the job in the next election
and for one reason or the other, we will not be considered.
“We don’t have to wait till after
the election before we say what we want. We want to let the party and our
candidate know that certain positions are strategic to governance and we want
them.
“Yes, the SGF is great, but there
is nothing wrong with having the Chief of Staff and Attorney-General on top of
it to compensate us for the denials of the past, so that all of us can work as
a united front.
“We will continue to fight for
it, we will speak with a loud voice. We give so much, so the zone deserves a
lot,” he said.
While congratulating Abubakar on
his emergence as presidential candidate, Olafeso said the zone was pleased with
the choice of Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, as his running mate.
He said the country was faced
with serious economic challenges, and Obi had the pedigree that could realise
the party’s economic vision for Nigeria.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com