Former Nigeria’s envoy to Canada, Ambassador Dare Bejide, has said the defection of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a sign that President Muhammadu Buhari has disappointed Nigerians.
Bejide, a PDP governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, hinted that it was dangerous for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to have lost a politician of Atiku’s clout , saying, “his coming to our party will help us to regain power at the centre in 2019”.
On the contest for the PDP’s National Chairmanship seat, Bejide predicted doom for the party if the Southwest is excluded from ascending the throne as being allegedly stage-managed by some party top notches.
Former governor Gbenga Daniel, Chief Bode George, Prof Tunde Adeniran, and Mr. Jimi Agbaje are the aspirants jostling for the party’s plum seat.
Bejide spoke in Ikere Ekiti on Wednesday during a meeting with some party members in the local government ahead of the 2018 governorship
election.
The former envoy , who promised that he will clinch the party’s ticket in spite of Governor Ayodele Fayose’s adoption of his deputy, Prof Kola Olusola, as preferred candidate, adding that Atiku’s defection will impact on the PDP positively.
“For a politician of Atiku’s standing to have defected shows President Buhari’s poor performances in government. It confirms the APC is not the best for Nigeria and his coming is a good development for our party”, he said.
Bejide said the outcome of the December 10 National Convention of the PDP will determine how the 2019 will look like for the party .
“It is only logical to make someone from the Southwest the National Chairman. Since the formation of the PDP in 1998, nobody from that zone has been elected into that position and this is the right time and opportunity to correct that neglect.
“Vice President, Prof Yemi Osibajo is from the Southwest, the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is from the zone and the party controls five states out of six, so it will be suicidal for the PDP to neglect the region in its political calculations.
“Let me say this clearly, if the party takes the position to the South South, it means they are saying they don’t need the votes of southwest and the implications will be dire for PDP”, he warned.
He said the alleged illegal adoption of Prof Olusola as the party’s sole candidate for the 2018 governorship election further confirmed that the founding fathers of the party are being sidelined and undermined.
“We formed the PDP in Ekiti in 1998 when the party’s members were being seen as bastards by the South-westerners. And today , we have no say again but we won’t tolerate such and that is why I am gunning for the governorship .
“We want to serve our people. We want to return the party to them. We want to serve the women, youths and other populace in Ekiti in the most deserving way and that is why I want your support”, Bejide pleaded. (Daily Post)