The South West chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has declared its support for a Northern candidate, asking other regions to follow suit as only that can guarantee cohesion and strength for the Party.
The National Vice Chairman, South West, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, in his remark at the stakeholders’ meeting held in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital, said the uproar that trailed the proposal for the North to retain the position of the National Chairman of PDP was not necessary.
He added that the South-West is aligning with the position of the majority of the northern elders, which was premised on the fear of the party shrinking to a regional party and losing its national appeal in the process.
Ogundipe noted that the PDP controls 10 of the 17 states in the South, with 10 Governors, 32 Senators and 96 Members of the House of Representatives while in the North, the PDP controls only two states, with two governors, 15 senators and about 30 members of the House of Representatives.
He added that the zone will be further weakened and marginalised if denied the position of the National Chairman of the party, further stressing that the lack of cooperation in the South West zone will constitute a challenge to the National Chairman from the region.
“It is unfair to the masses of the South-West for anyone to insulate that our position in canvassing that the National Chairman of our great party should come from the North amounts to pushing away good things coming to the region”, he said.
The Vice Chairman further noted that over 70 percent of the functional leaders of the zone, under the leadership of the zonal chairman, arrived at the decision to allow the North retain the position of National Chairman of the party.
“It should be noted that the South-West had the Presidency for eight years as well as Speaker of the House of Representatives for four years; these positions are more influential than the chairmanship of the party, which some now argue must be given to the South-West because no one from the region has ever served as National Chairman.”
Other leaders of the party from the zone used the occasion to publicly endorse the zoning and retention of the chairmanship position to the northern region.
Those that attended the meeting include the party’s scribe Wale Oladipo, its spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, Senator Buruji Kahsamu and South West State Chapter Chairmen – Captain Tunji Shelle (Lagos), Yinka Taiwo (Oyo), Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa (Osun) and their counterparts from Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun.