South-West should produce next PDP chairman – Fayose

Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose

ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has canvassed for the zoning of the national chairmanship seat of the Peoples Democratic Party to the South-West.

The governor said it was the turn of the region to produce the chairman since the presidency would be zoned to the North in the next general election.

He spoke when a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, paid him a visit on Sunday to consult with him on his ambition to become the national chairman.

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Mohammed, who was in Ekiti in company with Ambassador Liya Damagon and a former Special Adviser on Political Matters to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, met with Fayose behind closed-door in Ado Ekiti.

When asked if he was in Ekiti over his ambition to contest the seat, Mohammed said it was no longer news that he was contesting the post.

Fayose, who later spoke with journalists, said that the time was not right for the party to have a substantive chairman and that the present acting National Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Uche Secondus, should take charge for the next five months to conclude the ongoing reorganisation in the party.

Fayose said, “I think the party needs the caretaker committee now rather than a substantive chairman.

“What I also wish to say again is that for me, it is the turn of the South-West to produce the national chairman of the party.

“The South-West and the South-South have had their turns and, of course, the next presidential candidate of the party would be from the North. So, I believe it is the turn of the South-West to produce the National Chairman. We have to allow the North to begin to search for a credible presidential candidate for the party,” he said.

Fayose stressed the need for the repositioning of the party.

He said, “Secondly, we need somebody who could take his time and put the party into a proper position. We do not need somebody who is trying to just finish the tenure of a former leader.

“We are now in quite a challenging time and it is not a time for someone to say he wants to just complete a tenure. We should allow the caretaker committee to continue and put proper elections in place for a new executive of the party.

“You will recall that I told the former National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu, that he has to go and he’s gone now. This time we must entrust the party into the hands of credible people who would not use it to redeem their names or for personal gains. So, to me, there isn’t much that a substantive chairman can do in just five months now.

“And I advise that everyone should go back to their bases and do the needful at the grass roots.