The elders of Ogun East Senatorial District of Ogun State have appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to save the state chapter of the party from going into the doldrums.

They spoke against the backdrop of what they described as “the wicked removal of the state’s original ministerial nominees – Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and Mr. Toyib Odunowo – and their subsequent replacement by one Akinwunmi Adesina and Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to South Africa, Olugbenga Ashiru.”

In a statement yesterday by their Patron, Alhaji Adegoke Agboola, they said “it was unthinkable that party men and women who toiled night and day to ensure the victory of the party and President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls were being brushed aside now that appointments are being made.”They lamented that, if not redressed, the situation could spell doom for the party in the state.

The leaders said while they could easily reckon with the exploits of other stakeholders, such as Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello-led Iyaniwura Foundation, Omoilu Foundation, Prince Ladi Adebutu-Kessington and Toyib Odunowo, in delivering the state to the PDP, the same could not be said of Adesina and Ashiru.

“These people – Senator Obasanjo-Bello, Adebutu-Kessington, Odunowo and other leaders and stakeholders – committed their hard-earned resources, running into billions of naira to fund the party since there was no patronage from the state government. All these people have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields of endeavour. They are also technocrats in their own rights.

“It will be a travesty of justice that others might just be waiting to benefit from if this brazen imposition of strangers is allowed to go unchallenged. Posterity will not forgive masterminds of this inglorious act,” the statement read in part. The elders described those behind the manipulation of the list as “enemies of progress who are hell-bent on destroying the party”.