South-west PDP asks Atiku to assure zone of SGF, AGF slots

The south-west zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate, not to relegate them if he emerges as president.

Speaking when PDP chieftains from the zone met on Friday in Lagos, Eddy Olefeso, south-west vice-chairman of the party, urged Atiku to assure the zone of more key positions.

Atiku was reported to have offered secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) to the south-west l

Olafeso said although the promise of SGF position “was a good development”, the zone deserves more key political and government positions.

He said the zone had been schemed out in the power arrangement of the party for the past few years.

NAN quotes him as saying for Atiku to give the zone a sense of belonging and compensate them “for the years of abandonment”, he should zone key positions like chief of staff to the president and attorney-general of the federation to them “in addition to the SGF”.

“We have been denied for too long. In 2011, the country under the control of our party zoned the position of the speaker of the house of representatives to the zone and it was taken away,” he said.

“And from 2011 to 2015, we were left just like that and the reverberating effect of that abandonment is the reason why we are still having the hangover of neglect till today.

“Now we are here again, the party is working with a zone with 14million votes, the second largest in the country.  We refuse and we will not accept where we finish the job in the next election and for one reason or the other, we will not be considered.

“Yes, the SGF is great, but there is nothing wrong with having the chief of staff and attorney-general on top of it to compensate us for the denials of the past so that all of us can work as a united front.

“We will continue to fight for it, we will speak with a loud voice. We give so much, so the zone deserves a lot.”

Present at the meeting were Bode George, a former deputy national chairman of the party; Yemi Akinwonmi, current deputy national chairman (south); and Tajudeen Oladipo, a former national vice-chairman of the party, among others.