The governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose has stated that the despite some of the problems the party seem to be facing at the moment, its national convention slated for May 21, 2016 in Portharcourt, Rivers.
Governor Fayose who was responding to the purported dissolution of the National Working Committee of the party by a group of concerned party members led by Professor Jerry Gana, insisted that those against the leadership of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff have lost relevance in the party as they no longer have fresh ideas to bring forward.
According to governor Fayose, “politics and governance is crisis management. Have you seen a party that is not in crisis when it comes to interest and leveraging of interests? Politics is about interests. Are you saying that you will call somebody in the village to come and take a position? That era is gone. You have to struggle, you have to make efforts and show that you actually need that position. Before now, a lot of the people that were in party positions were unwilling characters. Now willing characters are coming out that is why you see the struggle that much. As a result, a lot of people will be displaced or feel displaced. A lot of people are feeling displayed but it is not displacement as it were.
“As I have always said, elders are wonderful people but they should take the back seat. We won’t say they should go. They should take a back seat. I have no apology over that statement. And I am saying it again that if I am struggling for a position with my father, it is ridiculous. New generation should take over this party and build it. Anything you are doing and your children do not have insight into it will perish. Since this party started we have always deferred to them. But are we saying that we should continue to say the younger generation should go to blazes? The question to ask our elders with all due respect to them is that, at some times, if you are the one eating the food, you will pack the plates yourself. We will have differences. It is normal in politics but washing your dirty linen in public is bad. Let the young men take over in Nigeria” he said.
He said most of the people running to court to get injunction against the party do not have followers.
“If you are leading as elders and we lost election; most of the people who were Jonathan’s adviser were elders and we lost election. In most of the advanced democracy, if you lose election, it is just decent for you to allow other people to try, especially young people. I was governor at 42. You need a lot of energy to be a leader, not when they are giving you Pandol to be strong. Age is a disease on its own” he said.
He said despite the problems in the party, there is not threat that the party would disintegrate, noting that “the fact that there is so much in fighting show that the party is strong. The fact that everybody wants to be relevant in the party shows that the party is strong. If there is no future for PDP, there would be no such struggle”.
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