PDP convention: Chieftain tasks committee to carry grassroots members along

A Chieftain of PDP in Lagos State, Mr Dipo Olorunrinu has urged the National Caretaker Committee of the party to carry grassroots members in the preparations for the forthcoming party’s national convention.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the convention is scheduled to take place on Dec. 9 in Abuja.

Olorunrinu, PDP’s only members in the Lagos State House of Assembly (LAHA), representing Amuwo-Odofin Constituency I, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday.

The lawmaker further urged the Chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, to ensure grassroots were not left out ”in the scheme of things’’ to ensure success of the national convention.

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Caretaker Committee, led by Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, should consider the grassroots members and carry them along concerning the coming national convention.

“There are lots of existing voters in Lagos state already; we cannot continue getting it wrong in Lagos State.

“If our leaders do not carry the people at the grassroots along, it may affect the convention because a tree cannot make a forest,” he said.

According to him, the national convention should not be planned among the members in Federal Capital alone, adding that people and members at the grassroots across the states must as well be involved.

This he said became necessary to make the planned exercise worthwhile.

“We cannot do caricature convention and expect positive change, we know our problems and we have the solutions to the problems.

“Let us come to the grassroots politics instead of doing it as usual that brings no positive result.

“Members of the party must be recognised if harmonisations will work, but we if we do any harmonisation without grassroots members, that means we only organise caucus meeting not convention.”

The lawmaker said that being the only PDP member left at the Lagos Assembly, out of eight elected in 2015 general elections on the platform of PDP, posed a great challenge to him.

He also that he owed his constituents a lot in term of feedback and new developments at the national level of the party.