Otunba Segun Showunmi, PDP governorship candidate for Ogun State has said that the choice of Gov Ifeanyi Okowa as the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should not be allowed to create any gap in the party.
Otunba Segun Showunmi disclosed that rather than giving room for any rancour, every member of the party should close ranks and be united than ever before for the challenge of dislodging the APC government come 2023.
He said that while it is natural to feel a bit low and sometimes disappointed because things didn’t go the way you have expected it, but once the party speaks as in a case of picking a running mate, every other member of the party should queue behind the party’s choice.
Describing as very transparent and credible, the process that saw the emergence of Gov Ifeanyi Okowa as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Showunmi explained that “as loyal party men and women, it is time to consider what is in the best interest of our country and our party.
“Naturally, we must have our individual preferences and we all campaigned vigorously for our choices but the matter is now settled. There is no need to brood nor start to act irresponsibly, neither is it the time for disloyalty and crass opportunism against the party except you never really loved the party.
“We have a serious campaign ahead of us and all of our wits and skills will be needed. There is need for unity for party and country.
“People must be gallant in victory and humble when things don’t go their way. The umbrella is big enough to accommodate everyone of us as Nigerians and as party men and women. What is before us is a situation that calls for sober reflections and measured actions and utterances”.
Showunmi who later went philosophical while calling for unity in the party ahead 2023 general elections said “many experiences are inherent in life – change, birth, death, aging, illness, accidents, and losses of all kinds – but these events don’t have to be the cause of ongoing suffering.
“Yes, these events can cause heartache and stress, but heartache and stress will pass, and like everything else, are replaced with other experiences.
“The ego, however, clings to negative thoughts and feelings and, as a result, magnifies and sustains these emotions while it simultaneously ignores the subtle feelings of joy, gratitude, excitement, adventure, love, and peace that also exist. When we dwell on these positive states at least as much as we generally dwell on our negative thoughts and painful emotions, our lives become far more fulfilling.
Showunmi described PDP as party with the greatest hope for Nigeria as race for the 2023 general elections hots up calling for a united front to convincingly send packing the APC government next year.