Makinde: PDP can’t restructure Nigeria if it’s not ready to restructure itself

Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo state, says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be unable to restructure Nigeria if it cannot restructure itself.

Makinde spoke on Friday after he commissioned the Umuakatawom-Osaa-Okea-Ohuru road in Obingwa LGA of Abia state.

The major opposition party has been battling an internal crisis in the last few months.

As part of efforts to resolve the crisis, Walid Jibrin, chairman of the PDP board of trustees (BoT), recently resigned from his position.

Also, there were reports that Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto state, had resigned as chairman of the PDP governors forum and that Makinde had been named his successor.

But the party denied the report, noting that Tambuwal will continue in his position.

Speaking on the issue, Makinde said there is an order of succession in the party and that the south is not after the position.

“I saw on the internet yesterday; people were saying Seyi Makinde has been appointed as the chairman of the PDP governor forum. It is a lie from the pit of hell,” Makinde said.

“And even if they give it to me, I will not accept because there is order. If the chairman resigns, the deputy chairman will take the position. That is how you have order in a process.

“And that is not what we are fighting for. We are not fighting for the southern part of this country to have the chairmanship of the PDP governors forum. We are saying that if PDP has promised to restructure Nigeria and we cannot restructure PDP, we are not ready to restructure Nigeria. That is the fact.

“There have been issues that are foundational. If you read the proceedings of the constitutional conference that led to Nigeria’s independence you will know that there were issues then and if since 1960, we have not been able to get things right… of course, they may say the unitary command of the military structure affected us.

“But we have been practising democracy since 1999 and if we are not able to take a part that will lead to sustainable development, we should try something else.”