Lagos, the former federal capital, was agog recently as the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) besieged Lagos to receive members of the Lagos4Lagos Movement, who defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, writes BOLA BADMUS.
The race for the 2023 elections has commenced in earnest with ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in particular re-strategising to gain some grounds. the latter is keen on returning to power at the centre making inroads to Lagos in particular in the next election. So, it was no surprise the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyorchia Ayu, led other key chieftains of the party, which include Abia State governor, Dr Okeize Ikpeazu, Mr Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), Dr Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Engineer Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Honourable Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) was represented, among others, to receive into the PDP the convener of Lagos4Lagos, Dr. Abdulazeez Olajide Adediran and his supporters from the ruling APC in the state.
Other party chieftains, who were in Lagos at the Tafawa Balewa Square, venue of the rally, included former Senate president, Dr. Bukola Olusola Saraki; former governor of Anambra, Dr Peter Obi and former Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, as well as PDP deputy national chairman, Ambassador Taofik Arapaja; former national chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje; former deputy national chairman, Chief Bode George and his wife, Roli, among others. PDP national chairman, Senator Ayu, said the party was poised to bounce back to power in 2023 to bring comfort to Nigerians. Describing himself as a Lagosian, he maintained that nobody was happy now because of the hardship inflicted on the citizens by the APC federal administration.
“The PDP loves Lagos. We love Nigerians. We want Lagos to return to Lagosians and we want Nigeria to belong to Nigerians. Today, I know you are not happy. You are not happy that you gave your lives to people who deceived you about change. Are you enjoying the change now? How much is a bag of rice today? “Today, we are happy to join Lagosians to welcome Abdulazeez Olajide Adediran to the PDP so that together, we can rescue Lagos State and rescue Nigeria from the throes of economic hardship. Next year, we are coming back to Lagos to come and celebrate the party’s victory with you,” he said.
On his part, Governor Ikpeazu of Abia State and his Rivers State counterpart, Wike, enjoined leaders and members of the party to work as a team to guarantee success in the 2023 polls. Dr Ikpaezu, who spoke on behalf of the PDP Governors’ Forum chairman, Tambuwal, who he said could not attend the rally because he was bereaved, urged the old and new members of the party to see themselves as one united family.
In a brief remark, Wike said that with the defection of Adediran and his teeming supporters from the APC, the PDp was in a position to win Lagos in the next election. Similarly, Governor, Makinde, who spoke with newsmen shortly after the rally, said the event signalled the beginning of a new dawn for the PDP in the state, adding that the South-West PDP was prepared to rescue the zone and the country as a whole. “Indeed, it is the dawn of a new era and our great party has shown through many ways, that it is ready to rescue the South-West and Nigeria from the maladministration of bad governance of the APC. The South-West, as I have always said, is strategic to Nigeria’s politics and we will definitely lead the charge to rescue Nigeria from the front,” Makinde stated.
Chairman, Lagos State PDP Caretaker Committee, Julius Akinsola, in his address, described the PDP as the party of the masses, calling on its governors to remain committed to making the party more acceptable to the masses. Responding, shortly after being presented with the PDP membership card by the chairman of the party in Ojoo Local Government and the chairman, Caretaker Committee of Lagos chapter of PDP, the leader of the defectors, Adediran said he and his supporters would add value to the party.
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