We Have Not Recovered From Opposition Against Obasanjo - PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party said on Friday
that it had yet to recover from the fight that
made former President Olusegun Obasanjo tear
his membership card.
It, however, blamed its former National Chairman,
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who it alleged empowered
Sen. Buruji Kashamu to spite the former
President.
It said that the party had yet to recover from the
repercussions of the action of the former
chairman.
Deputy National Publicity Secretary of
the party,
Alhaji Ibrahim Jalo, who stated this in an
interview with our correspondent in Abuja on
Friday, also warned that the party must not
make the same mistake it made in the past by
denying the South-West the opportunity of
producing the next national chairman of the
party.
Jalo said those who misled former President
Goodluck Jonathan into jettisoning the zoning
system in the party emboldened Buruji, an action
which he said worked against the PDP in the
South-West.
He said for the party to succeed in 2019, the
South-West region must not be treated with
levity, adding that there were capable hands in
the zone who he said, could lead the party to
success during the next general elections.
Jalo said it was wrong for Buruji to be speaking
for the members of the party in the zone, which
he described as the foundation of civilisation in
the country.
He said, “We were deceived into fighting
Obasanjo, a well respected man in Nigeria and
outside the country.
“It was our former chairman, Tukur, who (did
that) because he thought he could cut him to
size by empowering Buruji. It was the biggest
mistake we ever made in the party.
“Tukur thought he could use Buruji to reduce the
influence of Obasanjo, who was fighting that the
party must obey the zoning formula in our party’s
constitution.
“But people believed that we should go ahead
with the impunity as sold by the few powerful
men in our party. At the end of the day,
Obasanjo had the last laugh while the party
found itself in opposition today.”
Jalo said the party would also be treading a
dangerous path if Buruji and his group were not
checkmated in their determination to deny the
South-West the opportunity of producing the next
chairman of the party.
He said it was wrong for the current National
Chairman of the party, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, to
envisage that he could continue in office after
the party’s national convention in Port Harcourt
on May 21.
He said, “The North has produced seven national
chairmen for the party. PDP isn’t meant for the
North alone.
“Solomon Lar, Audu Ogbeh, Bernabas Gemade,
Ahmadu Ali, Tukur, Adamu Mu’azu and Sheriff
are all from the North. Other zones have all
produced the national chairman as well.
“But the South-West has yet to produce the
national chairman. It is their turn and we must
not deny them this opportunity.
“We need to curry the favour of the zone,
because that’s where we need votes in 2019.
The North is for the PDP and what the people
there are expecting is the presidency and not
the office of the PDP National Chairman.
“Former Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu started
with only one state, which is Lagos but he later
took over the entire South-West and now he’s
controlling the entire country.”
Jalo listed the likes of Sen. Bode Olajumoke,
Chief Bode George, Chief Ebenezer Babatope,
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and Chief Shuaib
Oyedokun as possible candidates for the office.