The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Senator Dino Melaye, has alleged that the opposition party has been commercialised and privatised.
This is coming as Mr. Segun Sowunmi, former spokesman of the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, blamed the party’s inability to rise from its downfall nine years ago on members’ indiscipline and disrespect for party supremacy.
In a post via his X handle on Saturday, the former Kogi West Senator asserted that the PDP had lost its relevance in the country’s political space.
Melaye accused the acting National Chairman of the party, Iliya Damagum; the National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, and the National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, of destroying the party.
He wrote: “End of the road for PDP as Damagum, Bature and Anyanwu, irredeemably destroyed the party. We will talk about the commercialisation and privatisation of PDP. PDP is now once upon a time.”
PDP lawmakers in the House of Representatives had earlier raised serious allegations against Damagum and Anyanwu.
The lawmaker, under the aegis of the Opposition Coalition, accused the party leaders of a covert plot to sabotage the PDP by aiding defected former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly with legal backing to attempt to impeach the Rivers State governor, Sim Fubara.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, the spokesperson and member of the House of Representatives representing Ideato Federal Constituency, Ikenga Ugochinyere, detailed a series of events which he described as a calculated attempt by Damagum and Anyanwu to weaken the PDP from the inside.
In his response during the inauguration of the PDP National Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committees in Abuja on Thursday, Damagum warned that nobody can intimidate him into resigning from his position.
Damagum berated those spreading misinformation about NWC operations, adding that those calling for his resignation are only enhancing his popularity
Indiscipline Bane of the Opposition Party, Says Former Atiku’s Spokesman
Meanwhile, Atiku’s former spokesman, Sowunmi has blamed the PDP’s inability to rise from its downfall nine years ago on members’ indiscipline and disrespect for party supremacy.
In a statement made available to journalists yesterday, Sowunmi said only genuine and sincere reconciliation would help the party return to winning ways.
He said that as the former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and the 25-man-led reconciliation committee began the work of uniting warring factions in the party, party leaders and members should embrace this critical assignment with all sincerity of purpose otherwise, it would amount to another sheer waste of time and resources.
Sowunmi regretted that a similar committee headed by the former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki had submitted a fascinating report during the build-up to the 2023 general election but the misfortunes of the party were not reversed.
He said: “As we embark on this new effort, we must not waste each other’s time, for if we do not desire honest, genuine and commonsensical approaches to our issues, we will achieve a worse outcome. None is all right, and none is all wrong.
“The scapegoating of an individual for what ought to be a matter that shows that there is enough blame to go around is unhelpful.
“There is no messiah anywhere, and as such, all must purge themselves of any messiah complex they may have, for it is incontrovertible that our reasons for losing 2015 stem from indiscipline and lack of far-reaching reflections on what is in the party’s interest and there are living players who though may have seen the wrongness of their actions and must not pontificate as though 2015 did not happen.
“The limping of the party and the management of the consequences of that action was very serious. We managed to get to 2019, which is considered our best outing in recent history, but we still came short. At the heart of this, too, say what you will, is the fact that the complete commitments of those who can work were absent for the altar of personal hurt and using party elections to settle personal scores and private grudges,” he said.
He said that the party’s loss in 2023 was a self-inflicting injury, preventable and avoidable, adding that it happened because many members would not respect party supremacy.
Sowunmi said before the reconciliation team began its work, “I believe we must at the onset speak to ourselves and be ready for compromises, apologies where necessary and some punishment where it is unavoidable”.
He said one other thing that would also aid the party in staging a powerful comeback is the adoption of reforms as necessitated by the changing times, adding that the party must be ready to move with the dynamics of time.
Sowunmi said: “There has to be a time when the father steps back and allows the next generation to take over so that the baton is passed effectively, and the organisation is preserved.”
“Those who must run the party affairs today must be aware that history will judge them for any misadventure that they allow. We nevertheless must allow those with constituted authorities to act their roles.
“No one must appropriate to themselves greater love of the party than others.
“The activities of politics have their challenges, and those who cannot stand the heat might just do everyone a favour and get out of the kitchen.”
Adedayo Akinwale
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