Why I want to be PDP’s National Vice-chairman –Ajiya

From Idu Jude, AbujaHon. Abraham Ajiya, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said time and again that the North -Central has remained a victim of political manoeuvring since the inception of the party. In this interview, he said that his ambition to become the North -Central National Vice-Chairman of the party.

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display('div-gpt-ad-1718806029429-0'); }); Tell us what informed your confidence to contest the zonal chairmanship of the PDP?Yes, the reason for my intentions is, first, to help bring back the political party to its original state. The way it was before and after 2009. Having been a member of PDP since its formation.

I have watched and I have seen that the party remains the viable political party in this nation. If you go to all states of the Federation, including Abuja, you find PDP on the ground. These few days, I have gone out to visit states for consultation, and I have been able to see that the party is factionalised in virtually all the states.

And I have seen that the party has been balkanised and everyone in different states and everyone claims chief at different levels. Unfortunately, no one is willing to reconcile the factions.The situation here is that when one party is given what he or she wants, he does not care whether others get theirs or not.

I have been to a state where a sitting Senator has no say in the party executive and most of them are already in the court. I feel this is not what we should be talking about because the parties are mature enough to know what is right for the party. $(document).

ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); So, what I see there is that a person who can reconcile the warring parties is lacking in PDP, and I have offered myself as a mediator and a person who can look people directly in the eyes and tell them the truth.

Again, if I should go by what people are saying, I could have just collected some huge amounts offered to me to step down and walk away but I think the state of this nation and where we are now, somebody needs to correct a lot of things and I have offered myself to do the job. In addition, we have a state in the North- Central where the party narrowly missed the Governorship seat because of internal party crises. I feel that should not be the case because sometimes if you are running a race, attention should be on scoring a goal so that all the players can celebrate together.

You sound very aggrieved, what are your reasons?Well, like I said earlier, my interest is to get closer to where my suggestions affect changes in the party. One of the reasons is that no one fights from the outside. The North-Central states have been short-changed politically within the party leadership since the party’s inception.

So, we have had no National party Chairman’s tenure concluded successfully, since 2009. For example, we had the tenure of Chief Audu Ogbe short-lived; so were the tenures of Barnabas Gamade and Iyocha Ayu. All these times, it was a political calculation to take power from the North-Central because the party constitution left a vacuum as it did not specify the number of months the acting Chairman would stay in office before the NEC called for another election.

So, North-Central has always been a child of circumstance. So, whenever it is our turn to produce the Chairman of the party, one unscrupulous element will be sponsored with a paltry one million naira to issue a letter of vote of no confidence, but they fail to understand that those who sponsor them mean no good for the zone as a whole. Just imagine when someone receives One million naira to take away the entire right of the North-Central and it has happened about three to four times.

So, we need to correct the anomaly.I am convinced I have done many consultations among my people, the FCT people, and beyond. I have approached people I think I can meet.

In politics, you cannot force people to like you, but at my level, I have done what I feel is necessary. We have had both open and micro consultations. We are in it because the position is better managed by someone capable, not someone who is kept there by another.

There is something people like me about and that is the fact that it takes someone who has the guts to come out and fight an establishment. And I am here to say that irrespective of what the establishment is thinking, that out of nothing comes out something. If you can remember, where the good book stated, can anything good come out of Nazareth? It is just a perception because already many people ask, can Ajiya do this? But I said yes, I can; for me to have even come out to buy the norm, means I have seen something in myself and have developed this self-confidence.

You see, nobody takes you anywhere if you hope and depend on them; I can assure you that you can become absolutely nobody in this World. $(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.

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