An inaugural meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Southwest was held in Akure on Saturday with the objective of outlining a strategy for winning the 2015 elections in the area, with Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose reiterating the party’s old mantra that the presidential contest is a “do or die” affair.
The returnee-governor said the party must be prepared to use its control of the army and the police, which it currently controls, to ensure victory for President Goodluck Jonathan at next month’s polls.
The meeting was organized by the PDP South-West co-ordinator, Gov. Olusegun Mimiko, who shared the high table with Senitor Iyiola Omisore, Mr. Kolapo Ogunjobi, Senator Musilu Obanikoro, Governor Ayo Fayose and various leaders from the zone.
Governor Fayose underlined that the presidential election was critical, advising that the party should forget about governorship elections and concentrate on the presidential contest. According to him, once President Jonathan was re-elected, everything else would fall into place and the party could declare the governorship candidates of PDP in various States as it likes.
Minutes of the meeting obtained by SaharaReporters shows that some delegates advocated de-emphasizing rallies as campaign strategy, preferring that the PDP should focus on propaganda aimed at tarnishing the image of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari. Some of the delegates wanted to use the media to dent the image of General Buhari.
In that connection, Senator Omisore expressed support for the extensive use of propaganda against Buhari, joining Governor Fayose in stressing that the all efforts should be mobilized to win the Presidency because the PDP would be nothing without the presidency.
Mr. Fayose disagreed with the propaganda strategy, describing it as a waste of time. Stressing that attack is the best form of defence, he said that the PDP in general and the South-west PDP should be valiant to face the Tinubus anywhere they are.
He underlined that the PDP cannot afford to lose its control of the police and the army, which it will without Jonathan being the president.
On Fayose’s description of the presidential election as a “do or die” affair, Gov. Mimiko, obviously aware that the outburst could be used against the PDP, countered that it should not be a “do or die” but rather a “do-and-win” affair.
One of the decisions taken by the meeting was to set up a number of committees, including Security, Contacts, Traditional, and INEC.
The committee on Security is saddled with the responsibility of working with the police and the army. The party leaders also further tasked the students at both the national and regional levels to monitor various institutions and polling booths to make sure that the election goes in favour of President Jonathan. It was also stated that a national student body had submitted a proposal for a youth conference that will hold in FUTA this month where the South-west students would adopt Jonathan as their presidential candidate.
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