Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it is currently making moves to rejuvenate itself with the sole aim of giving the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) a shock of its life in future elections in the state, effective from the coming Local Government Elections next year.
Comrade Daniel Alao, Chairman of PDP LGAs’ Secretaries in Lagos State, gave this vow at the weekend at a special meeting held in the state and morally and financially supported by Hon. Zamani Hassan Muhammed, the Eti-Osa House of Assembly Candidate for Constituency 02 and Hon. Olubankole Omojola Wellington, who was Eti-Osa Federal Constituency House of Representatives Candidate during the 2023 poll.
Alao, while giving the vow, said his members had learnt from their past mistakes and were now back in full force to win all future elections in the state. He added, “This is time for us to come together to win Lagos for the good of both indigenes and residents living and doing their legitimate businesses in the state.”
Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Comrade Alao charged all elders and leaders of the party in Lagos State to stand up for justice and support the move to ensure victory of all PDP candidates in the upcoming elections.
He particularly charged all the Board of Trustee (BOT) and National Working Committee (NWC) members, as well as all the party’s powers that be, to sheath their swords for the party’s progress, saying that they should do this because the masses were waiting for PDP to bring about solutions to the nation’s current challenges.
“My fellow Secretaries, as the sole administrators of the party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) across the LGAs in Lagos State, the reason why we have converged here today is to look into the crisis that has befallen the party from the Federal level to the state level.
“We are not calling out anybody. We are not trying to castigate or criticize anybody but, in one voice, what the 20 Local Government Areas’ Secretaries are appealing for is that all state actors, all stakeholders, and all the BOTs, NWC, all the powers that be in the party should sheath their swords for the progress of the party.
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“This is because the masses are waiting for the PDP, and there is no way we can progress in a pandemonium situation and division within the party. We know what is going on in the country, which we do not need to start stating here. Still, as the LGAs’ Secretaries of PDP in Lagos State, we are saying that every aggrieved member of the party should forgive, forget, and sheath his sword to allow peace to reign so that we can be able to move our party forward from the Ward, Local Government and State up to the National levels. This is our appeal. God bless you all,” said the chairman.
On what his body was doing about some who acted as moles and allowed themselves to be used by APC during every election, a development that had deprived the PDP from upstaging the ruling party in Lagos State over the years, Comrade Alao admitted that every party had its crisis but quickly asserted that everyone had learnt from his or her mistakes ahead of the coming local government poll held in the state.
“We all know that there is no party without its own crisis. I agree that there were internal factors and disagreements. However, the 2023 election was an election that would have determined the victory of our party, but we had some people who, because of their own selfish ambitions, did not think about the masses. If they thought about the masses, they would have considered compromise by dialogue.
“We missed that opportunity because we had people who unfortunately allowed their personal and selfish ambition to overwhelm them and did not allow the success of all the efforts made by elders and leaders of the party to come under a united structure to face an electoral battle. That was one of the factors and reasons we lost the 2023 election in Lagos State.
“However, we have learnt from our mistakes, which paved the way for the upcoming Local Government election. Now, it is the indigenes that we are not even selecting but nominating as usual, telling them that this is your thing, come and do it. The platform is open, come and do it. I was supposed to contest for the LCDA but because the person that is coming is an indigene while I am a resident, I needed to bury my own ambition because I am not selfish.
“So, I can tell you that you will be shocked with the results that will come up by the special grace of God 2025, if we don’t claim the majority in all the LGAs chairmanship polls, I can tell you that our voice will puncture the existing system,” he said.
