PDP's Crying Babies

Jonathan

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost the 2015 presidential election and several governorship elections in their major strongholds and they must learn to live with it instead of being cries babies over their loss.

The blame game between the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and the President Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation is rather very childish and the clearest indication that the PDP leadership is yet to come to terms with the enormity of their loss.

The lamentations by the party’s national publicity secretary Chief Olisa Metuh also showed why the party was rudderless even up to the time of the election. Addressing the press yesterday in a laboured effort to exonerate the NWC from PDP’s defeat while blaming the presidential campaign organisation, Metuh said, “Our advice and suggestions were ignored. We cannot be held responsible for the failure. While we are not holding any excuse for them, we cannot be held accountable for issues that were generated that worked against our candidates in the North. All Nigerians know what happened.

“Let me say this. In 2003, President Obasanjo ran an election against Odumegwu Ojukwu in the South East. In 2007, Yar’Adua ran election against Ojukwu. I can tell you, if PDP had engaged in name calling or abuse against Ojukwu in any way, PDP would have lost the elections in the South East”.

Lambasting some aides of the president for instigating crisis in the party, Metuh said, “You will also recall that we had hinted you on several occasions that some fifth columnists working with other parties had been concocting some frivolous allegations and sponsoring amorphous groups against the National Working Committee.

“We had also alerted the Nigerian public through you that some members of our party including ambitious aides and associates of President Goodluck Jonathan were using their perceived closeness to him to further their heinous agenda of injecting crisis in the party with a view to high jacking the structure for their selfish interests.

“In the attempt to discredit the NWC, these elements pushed out series of misleading information to the unsuspecting public alleging that the party leadership mismanaged the Presidential campaign funds, leading to the poor performance in the polls and as such, NWC should be made to resign.

“When this wicked and baseless allegation was debunked by the NWC which publicly clarified that it was not involved in the handling of the campaign and its funding, and that such were exclusively managed by the Presidential Campaign Organisation appointed by the president, these divisive elements in their desperation came up with another allegation claiming that the leadership embezzled funds belonging to the party.

“Even after the NWC also debunked this despicable allegation, showing that the party’s funds were judiciously appropriated for our state election campaigns, this group resorted to labelling the NWC with attempts to instigate President Jonathan, PDP governors and other well-meaning members of our party against the national leadership.

“This is in addition to recent sponsored publications accusing the NWC of corruption with claims that members shared monies generated from the sale of forms from aspirants for the general elections.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that this national leadership has remained very transparent in all its dealings since coming into office. No NWC member has been involved in any way in any sleaze or embezzlement of party funds. Also, no member of the NWC has ever been accused of embezzlement of funds in any ministry, department or agencies of government at any level whatsoever.”

“We state clearly that we have not been given any money; rather, this NWC generated billions of naira from the sale of forms from where we funded our candidates for governorship and state assembly elections in all the states of the federation in addition to funds released to key leaders including NWC and BoT members to prosecute the campaigns in their various areas. The NWC is willing and ready to make this account public in line with the freedom of information law.”

 

 

It is obvious that as a party that used to being spoon-fed in the last 16 years the thought of being too far from the sharing table is becoming too much for many of PDP leaders to fathom. At least for now they will be eating from the same table with the ordinary folks for the next four years so that they can learn some lessons on how to use power for the greater good.

But they must stop the blame game over why they lost. What should be their concern should be how with the power of incumbency at the presidency and several states they were defeated or out-rigged so easily by the All Progressives Congress (APC).