As the race for National Chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hots up, some aspirants and stakeholders in the party have been cautioned to eschew politics of bitterness and acrimonious campaign ahead the December 9 Convention.

A leading aspirant in the race and former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel issued this warning in view of the recent developments in the quest for leadership of the party.

According to a statement signed by Steve Oliyide, Media Consultant to the Otunba Gbenga Daniel Campaign Organisation, Daniel admonished aspirants and some major players in the party to tread softly to avoid backlash and avoidable grave consequences of the unnecessary vituperations now dominating the media.

The statement reads in part: “We have watched with grave concern the unpleasant throwing of brickbats in the media from different camps in the build up to the December 9 National Convention of our great party.”

Viewing this trend with mixed feelings, Daniel stated that “only one candidate will eventually emerge as the National Chairman as well as for the other offices. There will always be a day after December 9 and all of us will still have to sit down to work together to chart a new course for our country and the Democratic process.”

Continuing, he stressed: “Our great party will suffer the greatest damage and public opprobrium from the mudsling and personality attacks on each of the aspirants. To the public, we are all members of the Peoples Democratic Party and any dirt thrown either way will surely have negative effects on the party and our performance in the 2019 general elections.

“We have read, and painfully so, all the not-too-pleasant reports about the management of our party and we feel deeply concerned that these do not portray our party in good light before the public who we shall still have to return to canvass for votes in 2019.

“We state unequivocally that all aspirants for the PDP's highest office and other offices are men of impeccable characters, eminently qualified even in varying degrees of character and strength of performance all which will be harnessed for total electoral victory when Otunba Gbenga Daniel eventually mounts the saddle as the National Chairman of our great party by God’s grace on the 9th of December. We however could not tolerate any form of malignant character assassination, bothering on deficient integrity.”

Daniel also warned against attempts to smuggle in persecution and error of justice orchestrated by the opposition and the government in power which, he said, should not be allowed to “gain ascendancy as we reach out to the delegates to seek and canvass for votes and supports.”

He added: “There is no system that is perfect anywhere in the world, only that which is best administered can be considered to be good enough. We are not unmindful of the misgivings of some of our party members with respect to the composition of the list of Convention Committee members. But we feel strongly that calling for the resignation of the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Maikarfi will and cannot be the solution. PDP is a troubled party no doubt, and it is the collective search for solution that has got us to where we are at the moment. It is the same reason why many of us are aspiring to lead it with a strong resolve and believe that we can steer its ship back to sail.

“It will not be in the overall best interest of our party if, while pursuing our ambition and prosecuting our campaigns, seeking delegates’ votes and support, we unknowingly unmarket our great party which we seek and aspire to also lead.”

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