Former members of the National Assembly from the southwest zone on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have canvassed support for the National Chairman of the Party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu in his battle to keep his position.
The group is rooting for Ayu to stay in office till after the forthcoming general elections in the overall interest of the Party.
This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday by the Interim Coordinator of the former lawmakers’ group, Hon. Yemi Arokodare
The former lawmakers urged all party faithful across the zone to shelve all personal interests and work tirelessly for the success of the party in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
The group’s intervention is coming amid the lingering leadership and confidence crises rocking the party.
According to the statement: “We wish to appeal to all the Southwest party leaders to tarry a bit on their request that the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, should step down as part of measures to address the lingering crisis in the party.”
The group argued that “this may further cause imbalance and instability within the Party, if allowed to linger.”
While acknowledging the concerns raised by all the party leaders and other stakeholders on the need to ensure fairness and equity in the party structure, the former lawmakers noted the merit for inclusiveness of Southwest within the Party but pleaded that this should come after the general elections.
According to them, “beyond this, we feel very strongly that, what is important now is to work like we did in Osun State and win the next Presidential, National Assembly, Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections; our concerns for now should be how to win the coming polls, then, other things will follow.”
The former lawmakers also applauded the Party’s presidential candidate, Waziri Abubakar Atiku, for finding time out of his busy schedules to visit the Southwest region as part of the ongoing nationwide consultations in preparation for the 2023 general elections.
In the same vein, the former lawmakers lauded Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for hosting the meeting during the visit to the Zone by the Presidential candidate of the Party, which was unprecedented .
They also showered encomiums on all the PDP Leaders and Party members for turning out in large numbers to attend and participate in the consultation meeting where they ventilated their views.
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