PDP Chair: I’ve Not Stepped Down for Anybody, Says Daniel

Dokpesi: Bode George, others don’t mean well for PDP

Hammed Shittu Laleye Dipo

Former Governor of Ogun State and chairmanship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming party’s national convention, Chief Gbenga Daniel, yesterday said there was no truth in the speculations that he had stepped down for one of his rivals, Chief Raymond Dokpesi.

He, however, expressed hope over the possibilities of the South-west trimming its chairmanship candidates before the national convention of the party.

Daniel, who was in Ilorin, Kwara State, as part of his campaign for the slot, also hinted that the defection of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to the PDP would usher in an avalanche of similar defections in the days ahead but denied that the party had prepared the ground for Atiku’s emergence as the presidential flag bearer.

“You know, the PDP has become a bride; everyone wants to become part and parcel of a winning party,” he said

He stated: “I have no doubt that PDP is going to form the next government in Nigeria. So we are happy and we would look forward to receiving the former vice president and I can assure you he is not going to be the only one; there is an avalanche of people who are waiting to get into the PDP.

“But it would not be correct to say we have prepared the ground for Atiku to pick the presidential ticket. Don’t forget that the PDP is a democratic party, there are so many other people who want to pick the ticket and I am sure if he comes he is going to compete with every other person and somebody will pick the ticket. But there is no doubt in my mind that he is a very strong contender.”

The former governor told journalists at the Ilorin International Airport that he was sure that the PDP would form the next government at the national level as he promised to use his office, if elected, to resolve lingering factional crises in some chapters of the party.

On the speculations that he had stepped down Dokepsi, the former governor said: “Or you mean others are stepping down for me? I stepped down for who? That’s fake news, that’s not true.”

He said: “Dokpesi is our friend but this is a race that I am a front runner. How do you expect somebody who is a front runner to step down for another person? It’s not done that way. We are friends, we are working together but there is no issue of stepping down in this matter at all.”

Meanwhile, Dokpesi yesterday took a swipe at Chief Olabode George, Professor Tunde Adeniran and others, saying: “They do not mean well for the PDP.

Dokpesi, a chairmanship aspirant in the December 9 national convention of the party, said in Minna, the Niger State capital, that the duo and others were planning to hold the party to ransom.

Dokpesi made the scathing remarks on George and Adeniran, both chairmanship aspirants, and others while addressing delegates to the convention at the PDP secretariat as part of his mobilisation of party delegates across the country.

“Some people are holding PDP to ransom, they are asking that the chairman should micro zone the chairmanship to the Southwest. Their stand is wrong and against the resolution taken at the Port Harcourt convention in 2015.

“Ahmed Makarfi has shown clearly that there shall be no micro zoning, Bode George and others don’t mean well for the PDP, they are just trying to hold parallel convention,” he said.

The aspirant asked for fairness equity and fair play by the National Caretaker Committee, insisting that “Makarfi should not be removed.”

Dokpesi also challenged any aspirant from the Southwest that felt he was more popular “to meet me at the convention.

“If there is anybody that is better than me let us meet in the field. I am the only one that can unite the PDP, and the country. We will continue the struggle to keep Nigeria one, only the PDP can be used as the vehicle to keep Nigeria one.”

The Niger State Chairman of the party, Alhaji Tanko Beji, in his remarks, said the December 9 national convention of the party would determine the survival or otherwise of the PDP.

Tanko Beji said state would take a collective decision on what to do at the convention.