By ADEYEMI ADELEYE

Some Lagos State PDP elders say for the party to return to power and win in the state, stakeholders must stay united, work hard to build and restructure the party.

The elders including Dr Abimbola Ogunkelu, a former Minister of Health and PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) member, and Alhaji Mohammed Ashorobi, the first elected Lagos PDP Chairman, said this at the PDP Stakeholders’ Meeting on Wednesday in Lagos.

Addressing the party leaders and elders during the meeting, Ogunkelu said that a divided party would remain a defeated party in any electoral cycle.

“For those of us who have been in PDP from inception, we know how it started for us to ensure PDP is at the centre.

“We must work hard to build and restructure our party such that at the local, state and federal level, PDP can be in power in 2027.

“We cannot achieve this by fighting ourselves. It doesn’t pay anybody to destroy the house we have built.

“To achieve this all hand must be on deck, we must go back to the basis. We must go back and rebuild this party.

“That assignment is not for leaders alone, it is for everybody at the grassroots. We need to get ourselves ready to work hard.

“We have learnt enough now that quarrelling and fighting will not get us anywhere,” the PDP leader said.

Ogunkelu said APC might be behind the crises bedeviling the opposition party in the state.

He applauded party members for staying with the party despite serial electoral defeat.

“I see a great commitment in members of PDP. What we must do from now on – not waiting till next year- is to build unity in the party and bring in more people,” he said.

The BOT member said that the party would no longer accept those who lord themselves over others.

According to him, PDP must reject all forms of imposition, elevate internal democracy and be ready to reconcile aggrieved members.

Ogunkelu said: “Democracy must prevail. We must go back to the book of the party, the constitution. We must make sure we don’t deviate anymore.

“If we are fair, we will no longer be having crises at every election. We must adhere strictly to the constitution. Leaders must stay away from imposing candidates.”

Stressing the need for regular ward, local government meetings, the chieftain said that no leader could run the party in a closed environment.

He added that there must be reconciliation committees and disciplinary committees across all levels of the party to instil orderliness.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said.

He urged leaders to inform their followers that there was a new spirit in the party withparty leaders havingrenewed commitment to reposition PDP.

“We have a new PDP where constitution will matter, where discipline will be upheld and where reconciliation will matter, where disputes will be managed,” he said.

He said that PDP administration made Nigeria the largest economy in Africa, saying the APC had not done much to improve the economy.

Speaking, Ashorobi said that reconciliation remained key to the future of PDP in the state and in the nation, urging all elders of the party to bury their differences and come together for progress.

“We cannot perform well without the support of the elders. The elders are now together, the elders are now one. Nobody is fighting anybody.

“Tolerance and patience yield good things. Let us be patient. Reconciliation is what is going on around PDP now. We are out now to resolve our problems,” Ashorobi said.

He said that all that had benefitted from PDP in the past must come together and rebuild the party.

“I am back because I have benefitted from PDP. Those who do not know the history of PDP should ask and not fragment the party any further,” the PDP chieftain said.

“Those days, unity was there because we cooperated among ourselves and there was honesty,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PDP elders in attendance included Chief Olabode George, PDP BOT member and party’s former Deputy National Chairman and Lagos State PDP Chairman, Mr Philip Aivoji.

Other party chieftains in the state and the local government areas also attended the meeting.

The reconciliation meeting was convened by Prince Tommy Eshinokun- Ogungbe popularly known as Imole Eko. (NAN)