Ogun PDP holds congress, vows to take over govt

Abiodun Taiwo, Abeokuta

Ogun State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party joined its counterpart in the South west to organise its ward congress on Saturday.

The State was part of the four South West states which conducted ward congresses under the supervision of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the December 9 National Convention of the PDP slated for Abuja.

Leading the monitoring team was a former chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, some Party Chieftains and the Independent Electoral Commission, (INEC) officials.

Speaking to Journalists on the Congress, Ugochukwu said Nigerians are eagerly waiting for the return of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to power in 2019.

Ugochukwu, who was one-time Special Adviser on Communication to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, said the PDP remained the only party that could end the reign of confusion in the country and run the nation’s government better.

Speaking, Ugochukwu, who is chairman of the state’s Ward Congresses Committee, said the PDP was still formidable and acceptable to the generality of Nigerians in spite of the misgivings in some quarters.

He noted that the peaceful conduct and high turnout at the ward congresses showed that the party is viable for the next general elections.

The chairman expressed satisfaction with the manner various contending groups within the state chapter were harmonised for participation in the congresses.

He said, “We have to give some credit to the caretaker committee. The tendencies and all that are natural; every political party have people leaning to this way and that way.

“But they’ve been able to come together in the interest of the party to have peaceful congresses and that is a great thing. We are not expecting that everybody would be happy. You probably heard that some people went to court on Friday (to stop the congresses) but the court rejected them.

“But the great majority of our party people want to come together to end this period of confusion in the country because Nigerians are waiting for us to get our act together to run the government the way it should be run.

“We’ve gone round to some wards, not all of them. From what we saw, we are quite happy with the turnout. It just shows that the PDP is strong. That’s why people want to come out and participate. There were no impositions.”

Ugochukwu, who was PDP gubernatorial candidate in Abia State for 2007 elections, was accompanied by other members of his committee to supervise the exercise.

Also speaking, the chairman, Ogun PDP Caretaker Committee, Tunde Odanye, said Nigerians have hope and confidence in the party.

“You know when things are tough, people always start looking at where lies their hope and I think people are looking at PDP as the alternative; they hope for them for the future. So, the turnout was proof that PDP is alive and well,” he added.

Odanye explained that majority of the rival groups with the Ogun PDP participated in the congresses following successful reconciliatory efforts.

He said, “When I came in, we first analysed what the problems were and we discovered that there were about seven tendencies. We’ve been able to unite five and half. Five are fully on board.

“Half of one – the key person in that one has one foot in another party, of which he is directly related to, so we can’t blame him, while some of his followers are with us. But I also have a feeling that he knows what his followers are doing with us.

“The one tendency who is totally against us, I think there was nothing we could do. Not that we didn’t try, we spoke to his people. Some of his people who saw reason with us or who are tired of being on the opposition all the time within the party moved over to us. But, of course, he still has his own bloc. His grouse doesn’t even seem to be with us alone.”