The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has called for the re-organisation of the structure of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party in the south-south.
He said the re-organisation will make the party work towards clinching some positions in 2023 adding that it would change the notion that the region is a stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The senator disclosed this when the south-south APC members led by the National Vice Chairman, Ntufam Eta paid him a visit to congratulate him at his residence in Abuja following his election as the deputy Senate president.
Omo-Agege also attributed his victory in the contest to the support and endorsement by the president, party at the national and zonal level.
He said: “The party in the south-south needs to be rejigged. You provided leadership for us, we want you to continue to provide that leadership but the difference now will be the support you are lacking, the support the party did not have then, with this platform given to us, as a party man, we are going to provide the support for you to have a vibrant party because some of us feel bad when we hear that south-south is a PDP zone.
“Some of us were in PDP and we know what we need to do to wipe all those things away from the political space but people need to understand that if you provide enabling environment for our party people, they will succeed but if we just render ab-initio that that area is a PDP stronghold, leave them because they are not many, it will be a challenge and that is the challenge we have been having but God-willing, we are going to change that narrative.
“We are going to provide the support to the party for it to grow and be competitive so that as we head towards 2023, we will have a chance to prove to our brothers and sisters in the south-south that we are ready.”
Commenting on how he emerged the deputy senate president, he said the decision by the party to endorse him destroyed the plans made by PDP.
“The victory we are celebrating today would not have been possible without the zonal committee of our party in the south-south.
“In this contest, at a stage we had two ranking senators and both of us equally qualified for the position but in the wisdom of the zonal committee, they took a decision that the two of us should not go into the contest and that one of us needed to be endorsed and recommended for this contest and in their wisdom, they came together, appealed to my colleague from Edo state and decided that I should be the candidate.
“I believe that was the turning point. If the decision had not been made, I don’t think there is anything that would have been able to spur the NWC to meet to take that decision they made which cemented my endorsement for the office.
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the support you provided. In addition to the support and endorsement you provided, I am also grateful to the NWC because so many people were interested and the argument they were making was that the party had not zoned the position of DSP and the NWC would have allowed us go to the floor since no pronouncement was made and that was what PDP was looking for.
“PDP wanted APC to provide multiple candidates and they will come with one. By that, APC would have their votes split and they will have one vote in PDP and it will reenact what happened in 2015.
“I think the NWC taking a cue from what the south-south did also saw through this danger and then endorsed your (south-south) endorsement and that is why I remain grateful to our chairman, Adams Oshiomhole for following your footsteps.
“I want to tell people that even with all these endorsements, if we did not have the support and encouragement of Mr. President, you know it would have been dead on arrival.
“So, I continue to remain grateful from Mr. President. He is not a man who ask for much, all he needs is an enabling environment for the content of the next level agenda to be implemented on the floor the national assembly.”
The Senator also said it was time to put politics aside and embrace governance irrespective of the political party people belonged to.
He said: “I have told people that the era of politics is over. There is a season for politics and there is a season for governance and this is the season for governance.
“It is time to put aside partisan politics and face governance.” [THE NATION]
