A National Chairmanship aspirant in the August 17, Peoples Democratic
\nParty (PDP) National Convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Prof.
\nTunde Adeniran has declared that his major mission is to forge unity among
\nthe various groups within the party.<\/p>\n
Speaking through his media aide, Yemi Akinbode, the former Minister of
\nEducation said he has the requisite qualification to achieve that goal
\ngiven the mutual respect he enjoyed across the membership of the party,
\nincluding its current and past leaders.<\/p>\n
“It is because of the bridges I had built across all the party\u2019s divides
\nthat eminent citizens of the country from part of the country have backed
\nmy candidacy. I am a friend of all, leaders and followers. I don’t have
\nenemies. The truth is that when some people don\u2019t have anything to say, my
\nwarm relationships with eminent Nigerians become the story,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Prof. Adeniran also hinted of a strong move by PDP leaders in the
\nsouthwest to unite and collectively demand that the National Chairmanship
\nbe formally zoned to the region.<\/p>\n
According to him, the southwest party leaders \u201cwant the zoning committee
\nmeeting in Port Harcourt to bear in mind that equity and justice demand
\nnothing less than a southwest National Chairmanship of the PDP.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the other zones in the south should concede the National
\nChairmanship to the southwest, being the only zone yet to lead the party;
\nadding that many party leaders in the southeast had already backed the
\nsouthwest for the position. The southeast had in the past thrown up
\nseveral National Chairmen for the party.<\/p>\n
Prof Adeniran, a founding member of the PDP, recalled that the south-south
\nrecently produced the President for the country and also led the party as
\nacting national chairman until recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had a long period of acting national chairmanship and the
\noccupant of that office was from the south-south after serving as deputy
\nnational chairman for a long time,\u201d he explained, adding: \u201cSo looking at
\nthe equation, even our brothers from the southeast, many of them believe
\nthe chairmanship should go to the southwest. But for the sake of robust
\npolitics whoever is interested can come out and at the end we are all
\nbrothers and sisters. When they see that the majority has taken a position
\nthat it should go to the southwest, they will key into it and the national
\nchairman will be Tunde Adeniran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prof Adeniran, who has received the endorsement of several party leaders
\nacross the six geo-political zones, said that he was determined to tackle
\nthe major malaise with the party, which he identified as lack of internal
\ndemocracy, disorientation and the ugly image acquired as a result of
\ncommission and omission on the part of the leadership.<\/p>\n
He further said: \u201cWe believe that there is the need at this point to
\nrestore the dignity of the party and broaden the base of participation so
\nthat there will be inclusiveness and quality leadership. We have decided
\nto come in so that we will leave a worthy legacy.\u00a0 The PDP was turned
\nvirtually into an electoral vehicle; a vehicle that you all get elected
\ninto a particular position or get appointment into a particular office
\nwithout really performing the oath of the office. We have to check that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the reported interest of PDP southwest members in the Vice Presidency
\nin 2019, the former Ambassador to Germany said that that should not
\ndistract the zone from producing the National Chairman at this time. He
\nsaid he would not be a sit-tight National Chairman as he would be willing
\nto relinquish his position in the interest of the party.<\/p>\n
He explained: \u201cAs far as I am concerned the motivation for aspiring for
\nthis office is service and when you are serving people, you have to be
\ndirected. If by any reason the party decides that it will go another
\ndirection, why should I say I want to sit tight on anything? That has been
\nthe bane of our politics in this part of the world. People must be ready
\nto make sacrifices and bear in mind the very essence of service.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A National Chairmanship aspirant in the August 17, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Prof. Tunde Adeniran has declared that his major mission is to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n