We Won’t Break Up, Disagreements Will Be Managed Better Henceforth – PDP

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, Sikirulai Ogundele has come out to speak about the crisis within the party.

He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, politically, politicians will always have to disagree to agree, but he has successfully brought in some of those people who broke away from the party due to poor management of information.

He added that the era of disagreements being poorly managed are over, so there will be less breaking out of the party henceforth.

His words, “Procedurally, this is a very sensitive time when party positions are going to be contested and the party executives will emerge. This has its procedure, and the procedure is one; to show intention; two, to purchase form; three, to be screened and congress will take place. The congress is an elective congress whereby people will be voted for, and positions have been zoned to various places for fairness and justice.

We are going to be fair and open. This is just the foundation of any party structure and if you mess it up, it is really going to bounce back on the party, and it will negatively draw that party backward. One has just got to put round pegs in round holes. We are going to have ward congress, local government congress, and the state congress before we have the party’s national convention.

As I promised when I emerged as the chairman of the party, ours is an all-inclusive administration, and to God be the glory, to some extent, I have achieved this. I have successfully brought in some of those people who broke away from the party due to poor management of information. Politically, we have got to disagree to agree, and when this disagreement is being poorly managed, it leads to people breaking out of the party. It happened in the PDP; misconceptions and misplacement of judgment pushed many people out of the party, and that badly affected us, and one of the reasons why we have had a record of losses at the polls.

It started in 2015 when two governorship candidates emerged from the PDP, and at the end of the day, Gboyega Isiaka broke into the Peoples Party of Nigeria, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole also broke out from the party to the Action Democratic Party, and late Brg. Gen. (Tunji) Olurin remained in the PDP and carried the mandate of the party to the polls.

They all contested that governorship election from different political parties, and they shared the supposed solid votes of the PDP in four or five places. We lost from there, and it has been serial like that. Since then, we have not been able to get it right as a party. Considering the hardship Nigerians are going through, we are looking forward to having a very successful outing in 2027.

There are 39 positions at the state level to be shared into senatorial districts, and we have applied fairness, justice, and equity. If truly we have a genuine intention to run an all-inclusive party administration, these positions must be fairly and equally shared. We must apply a sense of justice to it. So, there is a political arrangement that has been taking place before the election. We have applied all measures that will lead to a crisis-free congress. We are talking to our people to get them convinced about why we must not go into any row at the polls. These are just party positions, and we are still going to have elective positions, and we cannot afford to be in disarray before the coming election, we must be united.

The PDP we have today is a party that reflects on all groups in the party. Those people who have broken away from the party have been called back, they got convinced about why we must be in the same party; they are all tired of having NGO political parties. NGO political parties are parties that cannot even win an election.

So, all these positions will be internally shared to have a reflection of all faces, and all groups. Call it reform, call restructuring, you are right. We have harmoniously shared the positions, and we are all going to go to the venue of the congress and just rectify our decision. We have talked to our members; some voluntarily stepped down for the anointed ones.

We are supposed to have learned from our mistakes, but we cannot have 100 per cent achievement politically. Since we are not all from the same family background, we are not bound to behave the same way. So, we are still going to have bad eggs in the party. While the good ones are moving the party forward, the bad ones will be drawing it backward. This is normal and political.

The Bible says that we should not judge, and anybody who does not want to be judged should not judge. My observations have always been soldier go; soldier come. This is (President Bola) Tinubu’s time; this is Dapo Abiodun’s time. We have made noise for years, and our noise has never been reflected in anything. So, why must I continue to make noise of no significant value? Nigerians should just continue to pray for God’s guidance for Tinubu and for him to be able to lead us well.

Nigerians voted for him, Nigerians got what they voted for; they got what they are suffering for, they asked for it. Nigerians requested and voted for this hardship. We cannot blame anybody who treats Nigerians badly because some of these Nigerians are so concerned about selling their conscience for peanuts. Go to anywhere in Nigeria today, they sell their votes for as low as N4,000 to N10,000, and anybody who invests his money into a business will look forward to having proceeds. They have turned politics into business. When you invest money into a venture, you want proceeds; Nigerians have turned politics into business.”