By Henry Umoru
ABUJA—THE National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, has said if the party must win the 2011 general elections and beyond, it must present popular candidates for the elections.

Nwodo who boasted that the PDP would reclaim Ekiti State which is presently under the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the next governorship election, stressed that the South West, like every other zone, was very strategic to the party and every effort must be put in by all to sustain it and that the South West had everything to gain in playing mainstream politics.

Speaking at the conferment of traditional titles of Bobare and Yeye Bobare of Iresi Kingdom, Osun State, on him and his wife, Mrs Dorothy Nwodo, the PDP National Chairman described the declaration of the candidate of the ACN,  Dr.Kayode Fayemi, by the Court of Appeal as the winner of the 2007 gubernatorial election in the state as a temporary set back.

In a statement by his Special Assistant, Media, Ike Abonyi, Dr.Nwodo who called on party members from the South West zone to close ranks and sustain the true position of the party in the region, however warned that only harmony and spirit of accommodation in the party could help them realize the dream and aspiration of numerous party members.

He charged party leaders to try and play an inclusive politics and give members sense of belonging as that remained the best way to brighten and sustain the electoral chances of the party.

The high point of the conferment of the traditional honour on him and his wife was the unveiling of the statue of President Goodluck Jonathan who did his National Youth Service in the town in 1981.

The community erected the carved statue of the then youthful President wearing his National Youth Service uniforms.

Dr Nwodo commended the National Youth Service programme for making it possible for the President and the community to meet themselves. The community adopted President Jonathan as their child.

President Jonathan arrived the hilly town of Iresi in September 1981 and spent 11months teaching at Ebekun Commercial Secondary School. At the ceremony, Nwodo commended the community for erecting the statue which he described as historic, just as he said that President Jonathan deserved the honour as a humble man.

The ceremony which was also marked as Iresi Day was carnival- like and was witnessed by many dignitaries  led  by the Osun state Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, his deputy Erelu Obada, representative of President Jonathan who is also the Minister of state for FCT, Navy Capt Caleb Omoniyi Olubolade,South West party officials among others.