The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has pleaded with aggrieved local government chairmen of the party over their petition against the congress.
The chapter also pleaded with all the chairmen not to disunite the party’s structure, noting that it was a critical period for the party in view of the forthcoming elections.
This was disclosed on Thursday in a statement signed by the state party secretary, Sunday Solarin, in Abeokuta, the state capital.
The statement read, “Permit me to plead with all of you to please sheath swords and not make further attempts to leave our structure disunited at this critical point.
“We learnt about a joint petition written by the body of Local Government Chairmen seeking the disqualification of the three Ad hoc delegates conducted in Ogun State.
“Regrettably, names of 18 out of our 20 Chairmen appeared on the petition; which is not a sign of oneness.
“We must be reminded of the length of this struggle and the little time required of us for rewarding endurance. We shouldn’t be annoyed at this point to the extent of allowing the long lasting unity to drift.
“Kindly allow us to calm down, reunite and work together. Our cooperation is highly needed as critical stakeholders in our collective struggle to win and control machinery of government in Ogun State.
“I must also remind all of us that our contributions to the healthy existence of PDP in Ogun State can not be overemphasised and we should not afford these efforts to be wasted.
“We look forward to continued working harmony in the remaining moments of struggle and together we shall sing the glorious song together.”
Responding, the Chairman, Ijebu North East LGA who is also the Chairman of Local Government Chairmen of PDP in Ogun state, Tope Ashiru, expressed dissatisfaction with the way the congress was conducted.
He said the party leadership in the state disregarded the constitutional guidelines of the party in selecting its delegates.
Ashiru stated further that the chairmen would not be sheathing their swords until the Independent National Electoral Commission-supervised Congress is presented.
He said, “We are not sheathing any sword until when the national body does the needful. The names that INEC came to supervise, throughout Ogun state, have to be printed out.
“Those are the authentic names. You can’t just write a name because someone feels he wants to become a candidate of the party by fire by force and treat us as fools.
“Our offices have to be respected. The party chairmen are the number one leader of the local governments.
“So, if someone is just sending a message that we should sheath our swords, to sheath our swords on what?
“Well, national body will release the names very soon. Let the names come out, when the names of the delegates come out, then we will now sit down at a round table and discuss.”
Solarin, however, said the party in the state would hold a meeting with the chairmen and resolve the matter.
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