According to This Day the PDP Southwest leaders, at a meeting in Lagos, rejected the move to zone both the presidential and party chairmanship to the north.
The Southwest leaders resolved that they would reject the move for a northern president and chairman in 2019, even though the position was endorsed by the two governors from the zone.
They insisted that the Yoruba people had played a very significant role in the advancement and growth of the party and nation, and that the PDP founding principle was based on equity and balance.
They issued this statement: Read more after the cut...
“That the Yoruba people are being treated with contempt and irrelevance. But cried that “the Yoruba people will no longer tolerate nor accept the role of subservient player in the PDP,” adding that “the Yoruba people must now stand firm and reassert themselves.”
The statement further reads: “We must no longer be treated as orphans within the party. Those who renounce the position of the National Chairmanship of our party do not speak for the Yoruba people.
“The Southwest PDP insists on claiming the position of the National Chairman, based on equity and fairness. The Southwest is adequately prepared and well qualified to lead our great party, given our rich antecedents of history, knowledge and culture.
“That the Yoruba people will fight this good cause with determination, with fairness of purpose and with the formidable pursuit of the truth.”
They therefore resoled to that “a powerful delegation of the Yoruba people should be mustered to demand for the position of the chairman of the party. The Yoruba people, must continue to uphold the truth, honor, integrity, selflessness and the Omoluabi culture. Being a democratic and liberal people, the Yoruba are however open further consultations and negotiations to sort out issues at the appropriate forum,” the communiqué concluded.