A former deputy national chairman of the PDP, Olabode George, has urged former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to remain in the party and work towards its progress.

Mr George also appealed to other PDP leaders, including former Senate President David Mark, the force behind a coalition of opposition parties, which adopted  the African Democratic Congress for 2027, to return to the party.

He made this statement at the ‘Restitution of Restoration’ social engagement on Thursday in Lagos.

Mr George said PDP remained a strong political  platform, offering great opportunities for members. According to George, it is only in the PDP that the interests of the estranged party leaders can be better served.

Several opposition figures, primarily from the PDP, Labour Party, and other parties, as well as some aggrieved APC chieftains, have recently adopted the ADC as their opposition platform for 2027.

He said, “There is no coalition in today’s Nigeria that can be stronger than PDP. The PDP is a reborn political party that has weathered all storms and can never go under. All these leaders must return to the Iroko political party. Those forming (a) coalition should not forget they have travelled that way before, and it amounts to nothing, and it will be good (if) they remain in the party to help build it.”

According to him, party leaders leaving the party to join the opposition coalition are desecrating the grave of the founding fathers of the party, who sacrificed everything to give birth to the party.

“It is a disservice to the party whose platform they used to get to (a) higher position in the country,” he added.

Mr George noted that the PDP crisis, especially at the national level, had been resolved. He added that the party had bounced back to reclaim its position as the major opposition party in the country.

Mr George said that with the resolution of the issues in PDP and the return of peace, all the reasons cited by Atiku and others for forming the coalition were no longer tenable.

“The party has weathered the storm, this party is reborn, those who have attained higher positions in the country on the platform of the party should do a rethink. They should take it easy. There is no way their congregating can pass the PDP strength. They have done it before. There is no major issue of contention in the PDP that can make them leave the PDP,” he said.

He, however, said the party had not changed its decision to zone the presidency to the South in 2027.

“What is the contention about? Why do they want to leave the PDP? They want to be presidential candidate? Positions are zoned in the PDP. The founding fathers of the party zoned positions because a lack of zoning of positions led to the collapse of the first and Second Republic,” Mr George explained.

(NAN)