A former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has cautioned the National Chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, to listen to the concerns of stakeholders and resolve the crisis in Lagos, Kano and many other state chapters of the party.
In an interview with newsmen at the weekend, the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) member said the crises rocking some state chapters of the party were capable of derailing the party’s chances of reclaiming power in 2023, stressing that the mess would blow up the party.
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He cautioned that big states like Lagos and Kano among others with their voting strength should not be allowed to remain in crises.
George insisted that the recent congress conducted by the committee chaired by Governor Douye Diri was allegedly flawed, adding that the process must be reversed for peace to reign.
Daily Trust reports that the party’s NWC had recently ratified the congress which produced a former commissioner in the state, Mr Phillip Aivoji, as the chairman, defeating Amos Fawole who was believed to be the adopted consensus candidate by some of the party’s BoT members including George.
A group of the party’s stakeholders had initially kicked against the ratification of the congress and called for a reversal.
George, who spoke on it at the weekend, disclosed that he had personally written a letter to the national chairman over the development.
He said, “All we are saying is that the procedure is faulty. They only accredited three local governments out of 20 on the day of election and they went in to start voting. How do you know who is from where?
“INEC wrote a report that they accredited only three local governments out of 20. INEC confirmed that after the voting they counted only three ballot boxes, the 34 other boxes were left uncounted, no sorting and as far as their processes are concerned the election is inconclusive.
“Governor Diri went ahead to announce some jokers as winners.
“Now, I also wrote a personal letter to Ayu, because I know him; we cannot afford this political rascality at this time. We are already entering the channel and tunnel for 2023 and mess will blow up this party. Nigerians are waiting for PDP, are we really waiting for them?
“Lagos is the largest electoral state in this country followed by Kano, is this man really thinking we should win this election or is he daydreaming? This is not a private enterprise. You need the people, and we must convince Nigerians that we are better managers than these jokers; these APC people.”
George, who is a member of the PDP zoning committee, said the party must make a definitive statement about zoning the presidency to the South in line with its constitution.
