The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has suggested the conduct of primary election for the national chairmanship aspirants in the Peoples Democratic Party from the South-West geopolitical zone.
He said this would help the zone to have a common front in the December 9 national convention of the party.
Fayose spoke on Saturday night when one of the aspirants and former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, visited him at the Government House, Ado-Ekiti.
He stated that he would never work against the interest of Daniel or any aspirant in the zone or work against the interest of the zone itself.
A press release by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, quoted the governor as saying, “We need to get a consensus candidate from our zone to clinch the post. We should not go to the convention as a divided house.
“I see nothing bad if we get all the delegates from the South-West to vote in a shadow election for their preferred candidate. Then whoever emerges would be supported by all during the convention.
“If we propose that and majority of the aspirants agree, whoever does not agree would be seen as having no follower at all. I can’t work against you or your interest. We have too many aspirants from our zone and it is not only us that will decide who becomes the national chairman of our party, it will be decided by every member from across the country.
He said, “As for my position as the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, I am only a voice there. Agreed that the governors will play a crucial role in determining who wins, but if I say something, I can’t force it down the throats of my colleagues.
“It is only advisable that we get our house in order. All the aspirants from our area, apart from dividing the votes in the geopolitical zone, are also dividing the votes in the North too. We all know that our party is the party to beat in the country.”
In his remarks, Daniel, who is one of the chairmanship aspirants, said he had all it required to lead the PDP.
He said, “Majority of the aspirants only have the experience of being political appointees. I have contested and won elections twice. As a governor, you know what it is to contest and win elections. I have traversed all the nooks and crannies of this country and I am well accepted.
“Our great party needs somebody like me who has the contacts and the experience to lead it. We are going to contest against incumbents in many states and even at the presidential level, so, we must be up and doing and I am assuring our members that I will lead the party to victory in the coming elections.”
Answering reporters’ questions later, Daniel said he was in support of Fayose’s suggestion of a primary among the aspirants from the zone.
“It is a good idea and if our party leaders and members support it, I am ready for it,” he said.
Meanwhile, a former Minister of Sports, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, has promised to work tirelessly to help the PDP to produce the President of Nigeria in 2019 if he becomes the chairman.
He said that the new party’s platform would produce the country’s next president.
Adedoja, one of the aspirants to the position of the national chairman, made the promise on Friday in Calabar when he led his team on a courtesy visit to the state PDP Chairman, Mr. Edim Inok.
He said, “We are now revisiting the issue of membership of the PDP to ensure that the party is repackaged and marketed so that other members can join the party. We cannot do this unless we have a viable and energetic leadership that is very creative.
“The creativity is what we are going to use to drive the management of the party when I become the national chairman. If I am elected the chairman of our great party in December, the party under my leadership will witness the enthronement of party discipline and internal democracy.
“The PDP of today will bring us two things: the PDP of tomorrow and the new platform that will produce the President of Nigeria in 2019.”