A national chairmanship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Raymond Dokpesi, has called on others seeking election in the December convention and their supporters to eschew bitterness and embrace peace.
Dokpesi gave the advice in a statement issued by the Director-General of his campaign organisation, Mr Baba Kachalla, on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that the advice became necessary following the growing tendency of members and supporters of different contestants to resort to abuses to denigrate opponents in the media.
“The national convention scheduled for Dec. 9 to Dec 10 is an internal political contest to elect officers of the party that will run the day to day affairs of the PDP at the national level.
“The resort to name calling, blackmail and antagonism is an ill wind that does no one any good.
“It will rather destroy the internal cohesion of the party and potentially set aside the familial and cordial spirit needed to carry out the task of the PDP towards winning the hearts of Nigerians.
“We consequently appeal to the aspirants and PDP members to advise their supporters to sheath their swords and stay focused on the task ahead,” he said.
Dokpesi reminded party members that many leaders had set good examples right from 1998 to make the PDP an enviable political platform with democratic ideals and institutional harmony.
“We are aware of how undeterred and committed these founding leaders of the party were and relish in the civil tradition of the G-18 that confronted the military, not with vile but with logical arguments.
“These qualities which also embraced an all-inclusive, detribalised political movement which is today known as the PDP must be allowed to foster and guide our actions as we progress towards returning to power in 2019,” he said.
Dokpesi explained that the overriding goal of the PDP was to bring together all patriotic and like-minded Nigerians into a single formidable political movement.
“We must therefore eschew all hate speeches.
“We must return to rebuild and restore our party to its former ideals and unite its different interests to unseat the ‘lacklustre’ APC’s administration at the general elections in 2019.
“The in-fighting is unnecessary, unhealthy and counterproductive. We must look towards the greater good. PDP must rise again as a family and as a winning platform,” he said.
Similarly, Dokpesi, who was in Lokoja on Monday, during his visit to Kogi State urged party members to be united and support the caretaker committee-led by Sen. Ahmed Makarfi to organise credible convention.
He urged the state chapter of the party not to be part of any move or plan to hold a parallel convention in December.
Dokpesi urged delegates from the state to cast their votes for him during the national convention.(NAN)