Saraki has not hijacked Kwara PDP ― Party stakeholders

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State have debunked insinuations that the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has hijacked the structure of the political party in the state with his defection to the PDP.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Monday, some stakeholders of the party, who are old members of the PDP in the state said that available executive offices in the party were fairly distributed among the old and new members.

One of the stakeholders, who is also the current financial secretary of the party in the state, Mr Moses Ibiyemi, said that existing relationship between them and the PDP national leader had been a case of mutual respect and trust.

“We have found in Dr Bukola Saraki an honest, straightforward and fair leader. Instead of hijacking the party as insinuated by Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo and few others, the Senate President has indeed left the control of the party in the hands of all stakeholders. Saraki’s demonstration of fairness and team player can be seen clearly in the composition of the new state executives of the PDP in Kwara state. The available offices were fairly distributed among the old and new members. Same thing goes down to local government and ward levels”, he said.

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Ibiyemi, who said that old members of the party had no regret whatsoever for accepting the Senate President and his teeming supporters back into the PDP, added that Saraki had come to add value to the party and that the party is very sure of emerging victorious in the 2019 general elections in the state.

“Let me at this juncture commend the Senate President for his sense of fairness and a great act of magnanimity in accepting the fair sharing of offices in the PDP executive among us the old members and those that followed him back to the party. He has, by this singular act, proved his critics wrong and has shown the whole world that he’s a fair leader whose only passion is the overall development of our dear Kwara state. We have no regret at all for pitching our tents with this leader of leaders, who despite using his personal resources to run the party since his return to its fold, has refused to exhibit any dictatorial tendencies.

“We are therefore using this forum to urge a few of our members who were deceived to defect to other lesser parties by our former chairman, to come back home as there are equal opportunities for all in the PDP under the leadership of Dr Bukola Saraki. Our doors are wide open to both our former members and every progressive-minded Kwaran. Let’s join hands with this God- sent leader, our own son, Dr Bukola Saraki in taking our dear Kwara state to more greater heights.

“We should be wary of selfish and self-centred politicians who may unwittingly handover the affairs of our state to ‘foreigners’ who have nothing to offer us other than to enslave us and harness our resources for their own personal use,” he said.