- It is indeed very appropriate to convene this meeting of our party at this time and I am very pleased with the attendance that I see here. The PDP actually kick started this fourth Republic and I am pleased that the very first governor of Edo State, HE Lucky Igbinedion of PDP is here with us today too. His tenure of 8 years was successful and unbroken. His deputy, Chief Mike Ogiadhome, is also here with us today. After serving as deputy governor for 8 years, Chief Mike Ogiadhome proceeded to serve as Chief of Staff of President Goodluck Jonathan. Their being here together, today and giving leadership to their party at the state level is highly commendable.
- I see as well, here in this arena, former Distinguished Senators, former members of House of Representatives, former Members of House of Assembly etc identifying with our party. This is how it should be at all levels. A good and realistic political party is indeed a family, that is always bound together, in pursuit of the best agenda and the common good of its people in the entire nation which is the wider family, whether in good times or difficult times. I would dare say, that the PDP kick started this fourth republic in that manner and established a realistic political party that up till today has its presence in every nook and cranny of our nation. The party therefore grew to become the biggest political party in Africa. A political party is not a business venture or a location where well known crooks and corrupt speculators assemble to perform their destructive roles.
- The continuous 16 years in National office of the PDP government, that commenced this 4th Republic, has remained so far unrivaled and indelible, and it is now true that most Nigerians yearn for those days to comeback. Sometimes power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I personally recall that there was a former PDP National chairman, a good man,, who out of nowhere declared that the PDP was destined to be in power for another 60 years. It was about then that some right thinking Nigerians gathered together to form an alternative
platform and so the APC was born in 2014 through the merger, for the first time, of some opposition political parties. Various attempts to form alliances or coalitions had hitherto failed. All the parties that merged to form the new party lost their original identity. This included ACN that had 7 Governors at the time with 6 from the South West and one from Edo State from the South South. The idea then was to have alternative platforms of two major political parties as exists in major democracies such as in the USA and the United Kingdom.
- My assessment is that the APC was hijacked by some forces and converted into a structure that was not of the best interest of our Nation. We are all witnesses of their operations so far and indeed the disaster that we are going through. That party is now a collection of people possessing only personal interests. Take a look at the United States, when the Republicans do not serve the proper purpose, the Democrats take over and in the UK, that is the same situation between Labour and the Conservatives. Despite the grave difficulties that our country faces today under the APC, it seems that all we are now presented with are just the desperate efforts to destroy the PDP so that the country may become a one party dictatorship. It is very clear to me that the only way forward for our country now is the survival of the PDP. History will certainly be kind to all of you gathered here. With the successful and appropriate adjustments at the highest leadership level, which I see now ongoing, I believe all will be well with the PDP and our country in a non too distant future.
- No organization, political party or country, can progress smoothly without obeying established rules and regulations. In the political party we have a Constitution which has been reviewed from time to time. That constitution contains the acceptable rules and regulations of operating the party at all levels. It also establishes in very clear terms the roles that all its members can play. In the heart of all this is also discipline. Without discipline the party cannot operate successfully.
In Edo State, the PDP lost the State in 2007/8. After that loss for about 13 years it had a rather failed leadership in the state that could not win any elections. Thank God some leaders stepped in, many of them are with us here today and delivered the State back to PDP in 2020. In 2024 as you all know, our distinguished candidate, Barr Asue Ighodalo with his running mate Barr Osarodion Ogie won the election hands down. We are still pursuing the retrieval of their genuine mandate. I am confident, that in the end, justice will prevail. There are a handful of persons who proclaim to be members of our party but in reality they are agents of some other people with incredible personal ambitions. These persons have fought to tear down our party during the past four years or so. It is now crystal clear that some of them who claimed to lead the party in Edo State from 2007 to 2019 or so spent that whole time working seriously against the party.
- Edo State is a key State in the South South Region. The South South region has been a key PDP region with all the 6 States in PDP for a long time. Unfortunately, once again, we have some persons with personal ambition who are committed to destroying the PDP unity and strength in the South South region for a mess of portage. It was indeed a very welcome development when very recently the Supreme Court ruled that the leadership structure and and management of political parties remains the internal affairs of each party. The National Working Committee of our party has quite appropriately established caretaker committees to operate the running of our party in states where such structures are necessary which incidentally includes Edo State. Recently, there was an illegal conference held in a hotel in calabar where the group involved claimed they were electing a new PDP South South Exco. To cut a long story short the NWC had since dissociated itself from the charade. The NWC has since then, established a caretaker committee for the South South led by Hon Emma Ogidi. The recent activities of members of that illegal group are indeed very highly offensive.
- This stakeholders meeting is very important indeed. It conveys a very clear message to the country that the PDP in Edo State is strong and vibrant. It is very clear that all those who are now fully in the opposing party but pretending to still be in PDP are performing criminal acts far more dangerous than anti party. It is in their best interest to immediately declare their exit from the PDP.
- We have in this arena, I believe, all our elected local government chairmen who unfortunately have been illegally barred from performing their duties for which they were elected. The Judiciary has appropriately declared the actions illegal but it seems we are now in a lawless environment where court judgements are recklessly ignored. Recently I saw a collection of some individuals picked from here and there being presented to the present governor for accreditation as the Local Government Chairmen. That is very unfortunate indeed. We will continue with our genuine struggle for the respect of the law.
The APC attack on the South South Region has been intense recently. I have seen in the press, reports of the defection of our Delta State Governor to APC and this also included the defection of his predecessor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa to the APC as well. I am aware of the route we took in the PDP to give Gov Sherrif Oborevwori the ticket of our party as well as to give his predecessor the Vice Presidential ticket. All that I can say now is that it is indeed very early to express too much regrets. It is not out of place to say that the people of Delta have not yet spoken recalling that in 2023 PDP lost Delta massively;’;’ to Senator Peter Obi of Labour Party, a candidate with no governor at that time.