Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
A member of the Federal House of Representatives, Tajudeen Yusuf (Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency of Kogi State), has said whoever emerges winner of Tuesday’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries will determine the incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello’s fate.
Yusuf who expressed confidence that the primaries will be peaceful, said the Kogi people have high expectations and the party must do all not to disappoint them.
He said: “I believe that it will be peaceful, I believe by now we have learnt our lessons as a party and the people of Kogi have high expectations of us. And so a sense of responsibility has been reposed in us, we have no options but to live up to it.
So on Tuesday, I believe we all know that is only one person that will emerge as a candidate no matter the number. I believe that whoever emerges will be a better candidate to give us a good stead to challenge the incumbent in the conventional elections.”
Yusuf also said as far as reconciliation is concern, the PDP has a long way to go.
According to him, some members of the party in the National Assembly felt very betrayed because lines were crossed, trusts destroyed in the build up of electing principal officers.
Yusuf, who is a third term member of the House of Representatives and one of the leading voices of the PDP House Caucus, said people going about pretending all is well when the opposite is the case, will not help genuine reconciliation.
He advised the party to take advantage of the resolved of those members not to leave the party to genuinely apologize and reconcile aggrieved members.
Yusuf was reacting to the question from Daily Sun if reconciliation was on course in the party.
He said: “Oh we still have along way to go, I must be sincere with you. Because, people felt very betrayed, lines were crossed, trusts were destroyed. Many people are going about pretending as if nothing happened but I know deep down, a lot of them are not happy. However, one positive denominator is that none of them is thinking of jettisoning the party. So, everybody wants to reconcile their differences within the structures of the party. So it’s ongoing but can they be genuine reconciliation without justice?
“There are certain fundamentals that must be in place and so I believe that those things must be worked out. You can’t stripped me naked in the market place and come into the room to cloth me. If you publicly cast aspersions on my image, you must go back to the public and say I discovered what I said was wrong. Because, opinions are what build perceptions, some perceptions might not be right but may become the reality.
“So, reconciliation is ongoing but it has along way to go.”