By Onyeche Igwe
The National leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has vowed to win all the states in the South West including Lagos State in the 2027 general election.
The party said this through its National Vice Chairman, South West, Engr Ajisafe Kamaru Toyese at the swearing-in of Caretaker Committee members of Ogun State PDP which was held in the zonal Secretariat of the party, Bodija, Ibadan on Thursday.
According to him, it is possible to win the five states in the South West by the time we bring all aggrieved members of the party together and use the principle of inclusivity in the coming election.”
“The task of the committee is to bring all tendencies together so as to make them one. Not minding the manipulation of the election, we won the election in Ogun State in the last election. As a lawyer, I accepted the judgment of the Supreme Court. We only lost the election at the Supreme Court; we won in the forensic counting of votes cast. In the next election, it is doable in Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo States. The only state that will be a plus for us if we win is Lagos.”
“We thank God for our governors, especially in Oyo and Osun States. They are doing tremendously well. In Oyo State, our leader in the South West, Governor Seyi Makinde has done a lot of infrastructural development and in Osun, the opposition is no longer talking about performance, they are wondering if Governor Ademola Adeleke will be able to finish the monumental projects. Just last week, he paid about N3b of the backlog of salaries that the APC government left behind.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, the governorship candidate of PDP in Ogun in the last election, Chief Ladi Adebutu expressed his disappointment at the anti party activities of some members of the party in the state saying, “In the past election, we improved by 190,000 votes compared to the previous election. We are glad we were able to wrestle the party from Buruji Kashamu. We won the election by 50,000 votes. But our chairman said we lost the election. Look at the state of PDP in Lagos. it is moribund. If we stand together, united there’s nothing we ask in Nigeria that they will give us.”
After the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Awoleye Dada, a former member of the House of Representatives who doubles as the Chairman of the committee said, that choosing him for the position “came as a surprise but when I sat with the committee members, my mind is at rest. All party members have displayed a willingness to win back Ogun State.
“We, politicians, because of interest, we have to disagree. We will make the job easy. Come 2027, Ogun State will become a PDP state. We cannot afford to fail with the calibre of these Committee members.”
“In Oyo State, during the last local government election, Governor Seyi Makinde used the principle of inclusivity. After the election, some people who are not members of PDP were made supervisory councillors just to acknowledge their contributions during the council election.”
“We have been mandated to hit the ground running. No one should put a barrier to our victory in the next election.”
The ceremony was attended by party chieftains of the party in the zone. They include Alhaja Bosede Adedibu, Zonal Women Leader, S/W, General Secretary SW, Alhaji Rahman Owokoniran, Deputy Governorship candidate in the last election and Mr Lukman Adeleye, Minority Leader, Ogun State House of Assembly amongst others.
