Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors in the South-South have been warned not to impose a candidate for the office of the National Chairman of the party during the convention scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Members of The Credible Forum, a group within the South-West PDP, stated this in a statement on Monday.
The statement was signed by the Chairman, Jide Ajayi, and Secretary, Femi Olu-Ojo.
The Forum declared that any attempt to impose Mr. Jimi Agbaje as the National Chairman would be resisted by South-West delegates during the convention.
The statement reads: “We reject, with vehemence, the undisguised attempt by the South-South Governors to impose Jimi Agbaje on the good people of the South-West. The Yoruba are enlightened and sophisticated enough to make a proper choice for the position of the National Chairman.
“It is downright insulting and outrightly rude for the South-South Governors to start dabbling in our affairs. Surely, Agbaje is by no measure a credible candidate. This politician, who keeps jumping from party to party, is hardly the face of the disciplined leadership of our people. We believe he is an
opportunist who does not know the values of the PDP.
“His antecedents in Afenifere are known to everybody. We are appealing to the South-South busybody to mind their own business. Please leave us alone. Don’t provoke the ire and anger of our people. By all reasonable measures, Agbaje is definitely not the fit and proper person to occupy that delicate position of a national chairman.
“We live in a time of extraordinary crisis. Our party needs a tried and tested hand to steer the machinery of our great organisation. We need a man with proven experience, with sincerity of purpose, with purposefulness of vision and balanced clarity of mind and leadership to rescue us from the present crisis. To impose Agbaje on us is to provoke a new cataclysm.
“If Governor Wike is returning a seasoned and well heeled party apparatchik like Secondus as the Deputy National Chairman, why is the South-South trying to foist an untried and untested aspirant like Agbaje on us ?
“Secondus has spent about 17 years at the national secretariat. He knows all the ropes and all the intricate maneuverings. Is the South-West dumb and stupid to put up a political nonstarter as our candidate for the National Chairman? “Please, let the Yoruba make the right choice. Don’t dabble in our affairs. We know what is good for us. We are discerning and sophisticated.
“We will not be led by the nose. We need a tested, trusted, experienced, knowledgeable, matured and stable administrator to steer the ship of our party. We cannot afford to be saddled with a desperate ‘Johnny Just Come’. A word is enough for the wise”.
