Fayose Urges S/West PDP Leaders To Contest National Chairmanship, Insists NWC Should Handover To Caretaker Committee

By Lere Olayinka
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Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has called on notable leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest to be prepared to contest the party National Chairmanship position next year, saying the Southwest zone deserved 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 Northeast for the party at this time was 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 issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said

“Since the PDP will pick its presidential candidate from the North in 2019, the Southwest 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 Northeast 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 in November rather than a substantive chairman. It will be more desirable that a Caretaker

Committee is put in place in 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, Governor Fayose said.

On why the Southwest must produce the next Chairman, Governor Fayose said; “Since the presidential candidate will come from the North, the chairman will naturally come from the South.

“The Southeast 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 Southwest and it is my plea that those who are interested in the position should start reaching out now.”