* Fayose slams elders group

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that it would go ahead with its national convention scheduled for next Saturday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, despite calls for its postponement by a group of party elders.

The PDP elders, under the aegis of Concerned PDP Stakeholders who met in Abuja on Thursday, had faulted the extension of tenure granted the national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff by National Executive Committee (NEC), saying that only the national convention has such powers.

They described as a nullity and of no effect all actions taken by the National Working Committee (NWC), including the ongoing congresses and the May 21 National Convention.

However, the party’s National Secretary, Professor Adewale Oladipo, and Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, who spoke on Friday, dismissed the agreived group’s position, saying that nothing can stop the convention.

Oladipo said the delegates to the national convention have been duly elected right from the  ward congress who along with other statutory delegates are expected to participate in the Port Harcourt convention.

“There are also statutory delegates like former governors, former chairmen, Senators, House of Representatives members, they are all there. The court injunction is not going to affect the National Convention,” he said.

On his part, Fayose slamed the party elders‎ for trying to always impose their wish on the party.

“You can wish anything but God’s plan for the PDP is that the 21st May convention cannot be stopped,” he said.

According to him, most of the people running to court to get injunction against the party do not have followers.

The governor who described the PDP founding fathers as “wonderful people”, however, advised that they should give room for the younger generations to excel.
He reminded them that anything you are doing and your children do not have insight into, it will perish.
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“We won’t say they should go, they should take a back seat.

“If you are leading as elders and we lost election;  most of the people who were Jonathan’s advisers were elders and we lost election. In most of the advanced democracy, if you lose election, it is just decent for you to allow other people to try, especially young people.

“I was governor at 42. You need a lot of energy to be a leader, not when they are giving you panadol to be strong. Age is a disease on its own,” he said.

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