Why South-West must produce PDP National Chairman, by Fayose

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has called on leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in South-West to be prepared to contest the party National Chairmanship position next year, saying “the South-West deserves the chairmanship position and all stakeholders must forge a common front to get it”.
The governor, who also maintained that installing a new chairman from the North-East for the party “at this time is a waste of time”, advocated for the appointment of a caretaker committee to pilot the affairs of the party after the expiration of the tenure of Chief Uche Secondus as Acting National Chairman.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said: “Since the PDP will pick its presidential candidate from the North in 2019, the South-West that has not produced the party’s National Chairman should take the position next year.”
He said rather than going about canvassing for the completion of the North-East tenure as National Chairman of the party, what party leaders from the North should be concerned with is who will be presented as the presidential candidate in 2019.
“I think the party needs a caretaker committee by November, rather than a substantive chairman. It will be more desirable that a Caretaker Committee is put in place by November to pilot the affairs of the party and organise a National Convention that will usher in a new National Working Committee (NWC) early next year.
“What can anyone achieve as National Chairman in less than five months? Methinks the time and resources being devoted to securing the party chairmanship position for just less than five months should rather be devoted to getting the presidential ticket”, Fayose said.
On why the South-West must produce the next Chairman, Fayose declared: “Since the presidential candidate will come from the North, the chairman will naturally come from the South. The South-East already had its tenure as the party chairman and the South-South just left the presidency.
“Therefore, it is fair for the next National Chairman of the party to come from the South-West and it is my plea that those who are interested in the position should start reaching out now.”