By EMMANUEL OLONIRUHA
ABUJA- The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the July 16 Osun State Governorship election as a low hanging fruit for the party.
The party’s National Secretary, Mr Samuel Anyanwu, stated this on Wednesday, in Abuja.
He spoke when the party’s Special Reconciliation Committee for Osun and Lagos submitted its interim report on Osun State to the party National Working Committee (NWC).
Anyanwu said that the party had no doubt on wining Osun State, which according to him would be extended to Lagos and other South West states.
“On behalf of the NWC, we want to appreciate you for your time because we know how tasking this could be
“We pray that this assignment will yield fruit. By the special grace of God, Osun State is a low hanging fruit for PDP. This time around, we are going to win again.
“It will be in the history of our party that this committee devised the process of wining Osun and we are going to send you for more assignments.
“We have no doubt that Osun was a positive report on Lagos State. If we are able to win Osun and Lagos State, we are already for the South West,” Anyanwu said.
The party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, who accepted the interim report, commended the committee for its speedy response to the call of the party.
Damagum, who is also the PDP Deputy National Chairman (North), described the way the reconciliation was carried out as one of the best.
“In less than six to seven weeks the assignment was given, we have seen your handiwork.
“The moment you were inaugurated, you hit the road. It has yielded fruits greatly, and we are sure of victory.
“However, we want to enjoin you, even though there was no election in Lagos, your assignment is for Osun and Lagos.
“ I want you to take this opportunity, just like in Osun, to hit the ground in Lagos, because even Lagos too, you have ample time to go to Lagos and make sure what you did in Osun is repeated in Lagos.
“ This your report will go a long way, not only in Osun but also in other states,” he said.
Earlier, submitting the interim report, the Chairman of the Special Reconciliation Committee, Jegede, said that with the coming together of the party factions in Osun, victory awaits PDP in the state.
Jegede, who was the PDP Governorship Candidate in Ondo State for 2017 and 2021 governorship elections, said that though the committee assignment was on two states, it accorded Osun a priority because of the upcoming election in the state.
He said that the committee members immediately after the inuaguration went into action in Osun, interacted with contending factions, believing that working together will guarantee PDP victory.
“I can tell you that the people of Osun are waiting. And they are quite anxious about this, expecting that come July 16, July 17 will usher in a new PDP administration in the state by the grace of God.
“What we were able to do was to bring the parties together, and we were able to bring them all around the roundtable. We spoke to all the stakeholders, we spoke to all the groups.
“We harmonised positions. The two parties have agreed that they are going to work together for the interests of the PDP.
“We were also able to extract commitments from all the sides, that the only way to achieve success is if we have a united front.
“That united front by the grace of God is what we have worked on and we also recommended that NWC should also follow up and show more interest in what is happening in Osun State, because Osun State is doable for PDP.”
Jegede said that the interim report consisted of just one volume, with the committee’s minutes of meetings, terms of reference, its approach, expectations of the people and the committee recommendations for the NWC implementation. (NAN)
