South West Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Elders Caucus has reiterated their believe in the Nigerian union, saying that the unity of the nation remans non-negotiable.
The PDP elders also decry the conduct of the 2019 general elections, expressing bitterness at what they described as “flaws, deliberate sabotage, treachery and outright banditry that characterised the 2019 general elections.”
The urged elders, patriots and people of goodwill across the country to speak out with courage about the perceived wrong and imbalances in the nation’s polity.
The PDP elders said these and many more in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in the Lugard Road office of former Deputy National Chairman, South, of the PDP, Chief Olabode George.
In the communique, read on their behalf by Prince Othman Shodipe-Dosunmu, the elders affirmed that they are wholeheartedly in support of the decision of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to seek justice in the court of law rather than withdrawing into a shell of cowardice.
They averred that the present electoral system, where result sheets were physically carried across the nation is not only absolutely primitive, but susceptible to all kinds if distortions and manipulations.
The elders at the meeting included George, former deputy governor of Lagos State, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele; former PDP state chairman, Captain Tunji Shelle; Chief Ebenezer Babatope; Chief Okanlawon Soboyede; Lagos PDP Chairman, Dr Adegbola Dominic; Engr Tony Ojesina; Hon Dare Adeleke, Elder Wole Oyelere, Dr. Remi Akitoye, Chief Joju Fadairo, Prince Sodipe-Dosunmu, among others.
It said, “All people of goodwill across our land should speak out with holy courage and boldly about the perceived wrongs and the glaring imbalances in our polity. “The Nigerian union deserves peace, harmony, equity and a strengthened bond of brotherhood that will galvanize our nation to greater development and prosperity.
“Surely we do not pray for the collapse of our democracy. But we urge for vigilance and constant monitoring of the affairs of the state. “We submit that the Nigerian Union has crossed a crucial threshold in the continuous struggle for a summative identity and national wholeness.”
While insisting that the elections “were fraught with screaming flaws, deliberate sabotage, treachery and outright banditry, the PDP elders equally noted with great annoyance what they termed the “mischievous interventions of the PDP national organ over imposition of fly-by night candidates on the states thereby provoking electoral failures and rank disasters.”
They argued, “We insist that we will never again tolerate the interference of outsiders in the affairs of the South-West.
“We urge the PDP leadership to return to the first principle of fairness, equity and justice. The party must embrace men and women of selflessness and instinctive sacrifice rather than encourage little people who merely serve the hour.
“We support wholeheartedly the decision of our party’s presidential candidate, Abubakar, to seek justice in the court of law rather than withdrawing into a shell of cowardice.”
