The South West Zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to give more key positions to the zone when he becomes president.
PDP vice chairman, South West, Dr Eddy Olafeso, who made the demand in Lagos yesterday at a meeting of key members across the six states in the zone, said the region wanted the positions of chief of staff to the president as well as attorney-general of the federation (AGF), in addition to the post of secretary to the government od the federation (SGF) which Atiku had earlier ceded to the zone in a power sharing arrangement.
Olafeso said though the promise of the position SGF by Atiku was a good development, the zone deserved more key political and government positions to compensate for the past when the zone was schemed out in the power arrangement of the party.
According to him, for Atiku to give the zone a sense of belonging and compensate “for the years of abandonment”, he should zone key positions of the chief of staff to the president and AGF to the South West in addition to the SGF slot.
He noted that the South West had the second highest voting population in the country and, therefore, deserved its fair share of political positions if PDP wins in 2019.
Olafeso said: “We have been denied for too long. In 2011, the country under the control of our party zoned the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the zone and it was taken away. And from 2011 to 2015, we were left just like that and the reverberating effect of that abandonment is the reason why we are still having the hangover of neglect till today.
“Now we are here again, the party is working with a zone with 14 million votes, the second largest in the country. We refuse and we will not accept where we finish the job in the next election and for one reason or the other, we will not be considered.
“We don’t have to wait till after the election before we say what we want. We want to let the party and our candidate know that certain positions are strategic to governance and we want them.
“Yes, the SGF is great, but there is nothing wrong with having the chief of staff and attorney-general on top of it to compensate us for the denials of the past, so that all of us can work as a united front.
“We will continue to fight for it, we will speak with a loud voice. We give so much, so the zone deserves a lot.”
While congratulating Atiku on his emergence as the presidential candidate, Olafeso said the zone was pleased with the choice of Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, as his running mate.
He said the country was faced with serious economic challenges and Obi had the pedigree to realise the party’s economic vision for Nigeria.
The meeting, which lasted hours, had in attendance a former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George; the current deputy national chairman (South), Chief Yemi Akinwonmi, and a former national vice chairman of the party, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo.
Also present were a former minister of state for defence, Mrs Sola Obada; a former deputy governor of Ogun State, Alhaja Makanjuola Badru, and a member of the National Assembly, Sen. Abiodun Olujimi.
The party’s governorship candidate in Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde; the governorship candidate in Ogun, Mr Ladi Adebutu, and a former governorship aspirant in Osun State, Chief Akin Ogunbiyi, were also at the meeting, among others.
The Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, had earlier this month hinted at supporting Atiku’s presidential bid, saying the region would vote for the candidate that would restructure the country – a major campaign promise of Atiku.
Spokesman of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin said: “The most important thing for us is the restructuring of Nigeria. Clearly, you can know Afenifere will always stand with the candidate that stands for Nigeria to be restructured. This is because without restructuring, we are going nowhere
