Lagos PDP chairman extends olive branch to aggrieved members

Segun Adewale, factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos state, has called on party members to cast their differences aside and unite to support the party in the July 22 council poll.

Adewale, who is aligned with the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the party, made the call on Thursday while addressing a crowd of supporters at the party secretariat in Ikeja.

He urged members of the party planning to defect to other parties where they would contest the council poll to drop the idea “as it would not bring success”.

Adewale said his faction had postponed its primaries earlier scheduled for Friday till Tuesday so as to allow more time for reconciliation in the party.

He said it will not be in the interest of the PDP or its members if it performs woefully in the election “just because of infighting”.

While urging members to aim for the success of the party “rather than pursue personal interests,” he emphasised that peace was the only option for the party to do well in the elections.

“I want to urge all our members, those in our faction and in the other camp, to come together and join me to ensure that we do well at the polls,” he said.

“Based on the appeal court judgement affirming the Ali Modu Sheriff camp as the authentic national chairman of the party, I, as a member of the Sheriff camp, am the authentic chairman of the party.

“Even at that, we still want the other camp to join forces with us so that the party can do well at the election. For those of our disagreeing members planning to contest the election on alternative platforms, that is not the way to go for you will fail.

“The best for us is to come together and at least do well in the forthcoming election.”

Adewale further said it was regrettable that overtures his faction made to the Moshood Salvador faction to bring peace to the party in the state “were not appreciated”.

He, however, urged the Salvador camp to embrace the peace offers of his faction for reconciliation, emphasising that “the door of peace was still open”.

The chairman alleged that the police invaded the party secretariat early Friday and forced people out to enforce an eviction order “given by a prominent member of the Salvador camp to disorganise his faction’s preparations.”

“We are PDP and this is our secretariat and we will not leave this place for anybody because the party belongs to us all,” he added.

“Even if they want to evict us from the secretariat over claims that they have bought this over, they should give us a notice of six months after the elections would have been concluded.”

The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has fixed July 22 for the council polls while run-off takes place on July 29.