The Uche Secondus-led Peoples Democratic Party National Working Committee (PDP NWC) and the PDP caucus of National Assembly held a meeting at the Transcorp Hilton on Friday at which very far-reaching decisions were made.
Chief among the decisions is the resolution to grant automatic tickets to serving members of the National Assembly in states where the party is not holding sway while allowing the Governors in PDP controlled states decide their preferred candidates.
This is clearly a return to the days of impunity which led to the ouster of the party from power in 2015.
Quite expectedly, a number of party faithful are waiting for the formal announcements to ditch the party, which is just recovering from the hemorrhage it experienced a few years ago.
Coming at a time when the ruling APC is opting for an all-inclusive democratic process, it is clear that the APC will be the net-gainer in the end.
In Kogi State, the PDP will fail woefully in the event that it goes against its guidelines and constitutional provisions for party primaries as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.
The present occupant of some of the political offices especially Senator Atai Aidoko Ali will not be allowed to return.
The people of Kogi East Senatorial District are tired and fed up with Aidoko’s kindergarten representation.
Elsewhere in the West, an aspirant had already issued a statement thus:
If the PDP National working committee will not conduct a free, transparent and credible primaries as laid down in the guidelines of the party and imposes Dino Melaye on us as a candidate in Kogi West senatorial district, as they now planned, l will not sit and watch anyone destroy the excellent work we have laboured to do along with others in Kogi State to be sacrificed for his personal ambition. I will not hesitate with my massive supporters to pull out of PDP before the entire building collapse in the state. I came into House of Representatives initially in 2011, through ACN which was a non-existing brand in my constituency, am prepared to start a new journey.
The above is not just a mere threat but a wake up call to the party hierarchy and its leadership to rescind from this unpopular decisions as it is capable of truncating the effort made so far to redeem the party’s image.
Imposition and all forms of impunity must be jettisoned by the NWC if we must make progress as a party as we cannot afford to repeat the failure of the general election in 2015 that ousted the party from the grip of the national government.
The grim reality is that we are drifting off the radar of political renaissance for possible return to power with this political gangsterism and imposition.
We must make hay while the sun shines.
-Odaudu writes from Lokoja, Kogi State