The South-West zone of the Peoples Democratic Party, on Tuesday, insisted that Nigeria’s next President should emerge from the southern part of the country.
The party, at an extended zonal caucus meeting held at the Oyo State Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, said that it was in support of the position of the Southern Governors’ Forum that the southern part of the country should produce the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari.
The party also reaffirmed its call for Nigeria’s restructuring and said it would support all efforts aimed at national cohesion through equitable distribution of federal positions and appointments among the geopolitical zones.
A communiqué read by the party’s National Vice-Chairman, South-West, Olasoji Adagunodo, stated that the PDP had resolved that the unity of its members in the zone was non-negotiable and that all mechanisms for dispute resolution must be on the front burner.
The party equally resolved to do everything within its powers to lawfully win the forthcoming governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti states.
A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Oyo State Governor, Taiwo Adisa, said Governor Seyi Makinde, who is the leader of the party in the South-West, was commended by the caucus for his infrastructure development strides and efforts to reposition the PDP across states of the zone.
In his keynote speech, Makinde called on all members of the party to de-emphasise whatever issues they had with individuals and unite in the interest of the party, both at the zonal and national levels, adding that the South-West zone remained critical to the success of the PDP in the country.
He said, “We are in the election season already. The timetable is out and candidates for various positions will emerge within the next eight to nine weeks. And as the PDP South-West zone, what position are we presenting?
“We know that if the South-West and Yorubaland are not peaceful, things will not also be settled nationally. That is just the fact. We have also gone through the path that because of disunity, we were left out in the scheme of things.
“When the founding fathers of this party came together, they spoke about fairness, equity and justice, and they decided that the six major positions nationally must be shared among the six zones of Nigeria. That has always been the case until 2011. Because of the in-fighting and disunity, the South-West did not have a single position out of the six national positions.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I can list those six positions. In 2011, the President did not come from the South-West but from the South-South. The Vice-President did not come from the South-West, but the North-West.
“The Senate President came from the North-Central. The Speaker of the House of Representatives went to the North-West, while the Secretary to the Government of the Federation slot also went to the South-East. The chairman of the party went to the North-East.
“That was how we lost all completely and we don’t want to walk through that path again. It has happened to us before and we don’t want it to happen again.
“But the only way it won’t happen again is for us to unite and de-emphasize whatever issues we have with ourselves individually. We must come together to tell ourselves what we are going to demand nationally.
”Makinde maintained that though the South-West PDP had three opportunities through the off-season elections in Ondo, Ekiti and Osun for the governorship seats, in-fighting had already made it to lose in Ondo State.
He stated, “Ondo State governorship election is coming back in another two years. But before then, we have the Ekiti governorship election coming up. We thank God that we have been able to get everybody together, but there is still a lot of work to be done if Ekiti will not go the way of Ondo.
“I do pray, because I know we have another opportunity to support our candidate in Ekiti State, so that in two months plus, we will have a governor-elect in the state.
“We also have Osun State, which practically is in a difficult situation. They have issues from the governorship primary, which is not supposed to be. The South-West is known as the zone to provide leadership for this country.
“Truth is, we are going to be the ultimate losers and what happened in the past will happen again if we don’t get our acts together.
“I make bold to say that those aspiring for the presidency and are using our people against us, there are only two and a half months left. You can force yourself to win the party’s primary, but can you force yourself on the populace?
“This is an opportunity for us to recalibrate and have a common position, moving forward in the national engagement with the unfolding scenario nationally.”
Reading the communiqué at the end of the meeting, Adagunodo said, “The unity of the PDP, South-West zone, is a non-negotiable issue; to this end, we demand that all dispute resolution mechanisms should be on the front burner.
“The PDP South-West Zone is in support of the Southern Governors’ Forum that the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should come from the South.
“The South-West Zone reaffirms its position on restructuring of Nigeria.”
The meeting had in attendance the former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George; former governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Olusegun Mimiko and Ayodele Fayose of Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states, respectively; serving and former National Assembly members and former deputy governors.
