Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has not gone into extinction but viable enough to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming general elections in the country.
He made the boast at the South West PDP Stakeholders’ Meeting held in Abeokuta to correct the impression held by some section of the public that the party has lost its steam.
The South West PDP stakeholders’ meeting attracted PDP leaders and political office holders across Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti States.Addressing the gathering, Makinde said the turnout of party faithful as well as the decampees proved those who declared the PDP a dead political party wrong.
“I can assure you that the PDP is well and alive. Whoever thinks otherwise will be surprised beyond their imagination,” Makinde said.
He urged party leaders and members across the region to remain united and committed at the grassroots level, stressing the importance of strengthening the party’s structures within communities, wards, and local governments.
“So, my charge to you is, please hold your communities, hold your wards, hold your local governments, and it will be well with us,” the governor said.
Makinde also encouraged party members to be faithful and loyal, expressing strong hope about the PDP’s future.While welcoming Makinde and other party leaders, the leader of the PDP in Ogun State and the party’s 2023 governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, said the PDP has proven its detractors wrong, insisting that the PDP remains united.
“Let’s remain firm in the PDP. We now have structures from ward to the national levels. So, we have nothing to fear,” Adebutu said.
Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Debo Ogundoyin; PDP House of Representatives members from Oyo State; former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; National Secretary of PDP, Taofeek Arapaja; Chairman of PDP in the South West, Kamorudeen Ajisafe; former governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, among others, attended the meeting held at the Ake Pavilion, Alake’s Palace.The party leaders also received two groups of defectors from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
