Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the south-west needs to present a united front ahead of the 2023 elections.
According to a statement by Taiwo Adisa, chief press secretary to Makinde, the governor said this on Tuesday at the meeting of the PDP south-west caucus in Ibadan, the Oyo capital.
Makinde called on members of the party in the south-west to unite as it would enable the region win a national position in the general election.
“We are in the election season already. The timetable is out and candidates for various positions will emerge within the next eight to nine weeks. And as PDP south-west zone, what position are we presenting? We know that if south-west and Yorubaland is not peaceful, things would not also be settled nationally,” he said.
That is just the fact. We have also gone through the path that, because of disunity, we were left out in the scheme of things.
“When the founding fathers of this party came together, they spoke about fairness, equity, justice and they decided that the six major positions nationally must be shared among the six zones of Nigeria.
“That has always been the case until 2011. Because of the in-fighting, disunity, the south-west did not have a single position out of the six national positions.
That was how we lost all completely and we don’t want to walk through that path again. It has happened to us before and we don’t want it to happen again.
“But the only way it won’t happen again is for us to unite and de-emphasise whatever issues we have with ourselves individually. We must come together to tell ourselves what we are going to demand nationally.
“Truth is, we are going to be the ultimate losers and what happened in the past will happen again if we don’t get our act together.
“You can force yourself to win the party’s primary but can you force yourself on the populace? This is an opportunity for us to recalibrate and have a common position, moving forward in the national engagement with the unfolding scenario nationally.”
