2019: Agbaje pledges to ‎lead PDP to victory

He said this when he picked his form for the national chairmanship position of the party in Abuja, with a pledge to unite the party.

Agbaje also said nobody should be discouraged from entering the race as competition breeds qualified hands to handle the party’s affairs, noting that the party constitution promotes equity amongst all its members.

Some PDP chieftains who have so far picked forms for the position of national chairman in the August 17 national convention include: Bode George, Raymond Dokpesi, Tunde Adeniran, Taoheed Adedoja.

But Agbaje said he is unperturbed about the array of aspirants, expressing optimism that he would defeat the other contestants.

Although the party zoned the position of national chairman to the South, Southern leaders later zoned it to the South West, even as leaders in the region micro-zoned it to Lagos and Ogun States.

Speaking on the development, Agbaje said: “It is very difficult to get consensus candidate under circumstances where everybody feels that he is qualified. The beauty of democracy is that you must be able, and shouldn’t be afraid to contest.

“What matters is that a level playing field is created and we shouldn’t bring this idea that we must have consensus. No! It is not even good to have consensus all the time. Let us have robust competition because competition always brings out a better solution and I think that is important.

“So for me, I am not worried, the party is clear. It is zoned to the South, that is the preferred choice.

“Now it is for those in the South to decide what they want. If they say it is the South West, so be it. If you feel you can run against the tide, nobody will stop you. We must continue to go back to the constitution, the constitution does not give you the power to exclude anybody. When you exclude you create tension. If you say look, this is what we think is best, if you do not agree, then, get into the field and let us run this race.

“We accept that mistakes were made in the past in the PDP, especially with our internal democracy. So we have to go back to the position of the founding fathers of our party And that means that we have go back to our constitution.

“That is very important. We have to be more all inclusive as we have been thus far. It is about bringing people nearer rather than sending them far away from the party. Everybody must fell to be part of this party.

“So what I bring to the table is that I am not a member of any faction or any tendencies. I am in a position to talk to everybody, to ensure as you love the PDP, then it is time to come back to the zone and appeal to those who feel very strongly to join us because Nigeria cannot make the progress it deserves without a viable opposition and that PDP is going to provide that opposition as an alternative government and in a responsible manner”.