19th July, 2017
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the House of Representatives from Lagos State, on Wednesday affirmed their loyalty to the party.
They pledged commitment to the Sen. Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the party and debunked rumours that they had defected to another political party.
In a statement in Abuja, one of them, Rep. Oghene Egoh, said himself and other PDP lower chamber members, including Rita Orji, Tony Nwosu and Tajudeen Obasa, remained loyal to the party.
He, therefore, urged the party’s members and supporters in Lagos and the country to ignore the people parading themselves as “Labour PDP’’ in places like Amuwo Odofin and Ajeromi Ifelodun areas of the state.
Egoh revealed that the crisis rocking the party in the state was not Makarfi or Ali Modu Sheriff’s issue, but between Chief Bode George’s group and another group.
“I want to emphasise for the purpose of clarification that Lagos PDP is Makarfi. PDP Lagos is loyal to Makarfi and the Supreme Court ruling is victory for us all.’’
Explaining further, he said that George’s group consisted of his loyalists in the party, while Independent Group was made up of elected members of PDP at the state and federal levels.
According to him, the Bode George group chose to defect to Labour party after losing in the primaries to the Independent group, who chose to remain and fly the party’s flag.
“This information is important because some people are parading themselves as Labour PDP in places like Amuwo Odofin and Ajeromi Ifelodun, deceiving Ndigbos and the general public that Labour party is PDP.
“It is obvious for everyone to see that Labour Party is in deep crisis at the moment because money was not remitted to their national treasury.”
The lawmaker urged the PDP members to vote for the party and not Labour Party in Saturday’s council polls in the state.
He added that he and his colleagues, did not only attend the party’s Caucus meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, but remained an integral part of the “Makarfi PDP’’ in the National Assembly.
“We want to warn dishonest politicians seeking cheap votes to desist from peddling fake news.
“We will not allow our people to be deceived by those who want to encourage fraud with lies. We implore the party faithful to come out en masse to vote in the Makarfi-led group in the upcoming local government elections in Lagos.’’