We Will Not Allow Reactionary Elements Drag the Party Through Mud – Seyi Makinde

Seyi Makinde, Governor of Oyo State has said that he will not allow reactionary elements in the Southwest Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), soil his name with mud. He further added that PDP has gone past the era of permitting reactionary elements to have the final say over party actions.

Makinde made this statement yesterday while briefing the press on the events within the PDP National Working Committee in relation to the next Southwest zonal Congress of the party.

He revealed that the Southwest faction of the party on Tuesday held its meeting in Ibadan, where it reaffirmed the zoning arrangement for the offices of the Southwest zonal executives with each state expected to come up with a unity list to submit at the Congress.

Makinde, however, said that, on Wednesday, he heard of problematic news that the national working committee plans to postpone the Southwest zonal Congress due to some people taking the venue of the congress to court.

Speaking on the court case, Makinde said, “Maybe in the past, it’s possible for elements within PDP to collude with the national working committee to file cases where they are the plaintiff, the defendant and they also try to corrupt the judicial system in Nigeria.

“That will never be allowed again because this is a PDP that is getting ready to take the mantle of leadership in this country and we want to provide leadership that is above board for the country and we cannot be seen within PDP to do something that will compromise any aspect of governance in Nigeria.

“I specifically put a notice that the national legal adviser of PDP has not done well.

“How can you file a case and then you instruct legal representation for the plaintiff and also for the defendant? I don’t think that is acceptable.

“And we expect the national working committee of the party to deal with that decisively.”

“And finally, we are ready in the Southwest PDP to have a Congress that will produce the zonal executives that are acceptable to the majority of the people of Southwest Nigeria.”

When asked about his fallout with the Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, the Oyo state governor said, “I do not have anything to say about people because small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, we want to talk about issues.

“So if there are issues, we will address it and when individuals decide to go low, we won’t follow them to that depth. So if there are issues, yes alternative dispute resolution mechanisms exist within the PDP and that is being explored right now.”

Addressing the issue of reconciliation between unhappy members of the PDP under one umbrella, Gov Makinde said that alternative dispute resolution measures are being deployed to make sure that alignment is sought to ensure growth and development.

Further, he debunked rumours of Former Governor Ladoja assembling a reconciliatory meeting between him and Fayose. He said, “In terms of any reconciliation meeting there has been nothing like that. I haven’t had any meeting with Baba Ladoja. I think it is just rumours flying about, there is nothing like that.”

“Politics is about conflict and conflict resolution but within those conflicting ideas and positions, you seek alignment and try to push in a positive direction, that is what brings growth and development and that is exactly what we will continue to do for our party and our state and country and if the NWC decided to postpone the zonal Congress for a reason that is acceptable to everybody, we will work with them but if they are toeing the path of “arrange”, I think Nigeria has moved beyond that, that will mean they are taking back to an era that we should have forgotten about in this country.

“Even if they do, there are some of us in that party that we are bent on taking the party to take its rightful position to get the party ready for the leadership of the country and we will fight those reactionary elements until they are defeated within the party”, he concluded.