Says PDP Hasn’t Won Gubernatorial Elections in 20 Years, Declares Chairman Must Leave Otherwise…
Having lost the 2019 election in the March 9 gubernatorial poll, a delegation of the Lagos PDP on April 16 broke into the Lagos State secretariat demanding an immediate end to Bode George’s tenure as State Party Chairman which he has held for two decades.
The faction, led by a former chairman, Segun Adewale, forced its way into the Lagos office of the party in Ikeja, which was under lock and key and was being guarded by men of the Nigeria Police on the orders of George. The factional party members thereafter declared Adewale the state’s party chairman.
With chants of victory songs with his name and placards of various colours and inscriptions such as ‘Please, come and rescue us from Bode George’, ‘Chief Bode George ‘o to ge,’ ‘stop playing anti-party politics in Lagos and South West’, ‘we are tired of Bode George selling our vote in Lagos! National, please help us’, ‘we are tired of the cartels of failures in PDP’, among others, the delegation said Adewale was the right man for the job.
The delegation stated that since 1999 and under the leadership of George, the party has not adopted a new strategy to win elections in the state, adding that this reason in addition to the reasons motivated their insistence on kicking him out office.
Segun Adewale said, “We cannot continue to do the same thing same way and expect different results. Dear members, let’s all have a rethink; I want to win, I want to lead you to victory. We all need to achieve this together. I also want to state it here that the police do not have right to interfere with our internal party affairs. Under the law, we can have peaceful assembly. As a matter of fact, it is our fundamental human right of association.
“Let me state it here that we don’t have any issues with all the authentic chairmen in all the 20 local government areas and the other state executive members. We are only against the illegal installment of Dominic who was imposed on the party by George without following constitutional provisions. It is imperative to note that if they fail to adhere to the constitution, I also have the right to lay claim to the chairmanship based on my 2016 letter of appointment, because no court or National Executive Committee has asked me not to be chairman.
“We want to show them how politics should be played; it is not a matter of force or thuggery. It is about display of intellectual know-how, and those saying I moved around with thugs are only telling lies. As a politician of note, who likes to carry people along, I move with our party members but those on the other side have known thugs they use in tormenting our party members. We won’t go low like them. We would continue to do the right things that will advance the cause of our party.
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“I want all of us to work together for victory ahead of 2023. This is why I am asking all of us to team together or we should follow the old path that has led us to failure at every election in Lagos. Now, the choice is ours to make whether we want all our collective efforts to yield results in 2023 and beyond or remain as failure that we have been faced with since 1999.
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“We are going to be victorious in this struggle to liberate Lagos PDP from those who don’t want it to progress. We are going to rebuild the party and make it a winning machine ahead of the 2023 elections. We are not only going to get involved in all the positive moves that will guarantee success for the party, we will also champion all the destiny-changing initiatives that will propel Lagos PDP to the land of promise. As from today, we are all saying no more to Baba Sope because PDP belongs to all of us. We must all now be stronger together and say ‘o to ge’ to Bode George and his brigades”.
Mr. Adedapo Olushola, an ex-official of the party, opined that it has become clear that the party under the leadership of Bode George will not yield victory for the party hence, “the only option is to allow Lagos PDP choose who leads them, either from the executive or the congress. Enough is enough. He has led this party to failure for the past 20 years without winning any elections. We say due thank you to him; let the old man go and relax at home and allow our party plan, restrategise and rebuild ahead of the forthcoming polls”.
Lagos Reporters
