Former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Chief of Staff to the former President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, CFR, has berated the State Chairman of the PDP and his exco for dragging his hard-earned image into their military clique pattern of managing the piloting political parties, rather than accepting their weaknesses, so that they can find a means of solving it together. Power can remain in the hands of an infidel, if he is just and fair, because behind every crisis is injustice.
The Edo State Party Chairman falls from a vertiginous sliding scale of public expectations by his unwarranted and distressing outburst. From inflammatory words come violence. We must learn from our previous humiliating losses and allow the man who has removed us from twelve years of darkness to lead the way. We must enshew politics of ego worshipping, fanaticism and deception as doing so would make drift inevitable.
Political party, as the engine room of democracy and key instrument in institutionalising and consolidating democracy, ought to be an open forum and not a close group operated as a secret society or a cult group driven by confusion, indiscipline and lack of internal democracy. Emergence of leaders must be anchored on strong Democratic princples of inclusiveness justice and equity.
Reacting to the publication by Edo state PDP executive, the former Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan said he (Oghiadomhe) is an aborigine of the PDP, having been a foundation member, right from the association stage in 1998, through joining with the G34; contested elections and served two terms as Deputy Governor, and also the Chief of Staff to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, an office that enabled him to work closely with the party at the national level. Therefore, he cannot be linked to failure, because his dexterity and political relevance have earned him his status and not any godfathers.
The former Edo deputy governor argued that :”it is the convention in the PDP that the governor of a state controlled by the party is the leader of the party in the state. Consequently, as the leader of the party, the governor has every right and privilege to convene a meeting the way he deems appropriate. The laid-down tradition of the party in respect of governors joining our great party are well known and have been in practice across the country. The ongoing underground plot to stop the governor and highjack the party is mindless and cannot stand, because the party runs on a defined constitution and conventions” .
He maintained that: “Since the crisis started few days ago, he is aware of threats and incentives that are thrown to party officials at local government and ward excos in some leaders’ domains, in attempts at compelling them to append their signatures to sinisterly suspend such leaders from the party. He said he has been monitoring the developments and it is now very clear that there are people who have grown within the party with sinister motives not to form a party, but to advance personal greed by curtailing the influence of other leaders. PDP, the party we founded and built, is not a secret cult and should not be made such.”
He frowned on the unguarded utterances of Edo State Chairman of the PDP in referring to founding fathers of the party and senior leaders as congress losers. He challenged the leadership to make good their claims and publish the outcomes of elections since the inception of democracy in 1999.
“If there were failures of low performance in the last elections that never existed, records of those wards should be published right from the inception of the party, particularly the first governorship election of the PDP,” said the elder statesman.
The foremost political chieftain in Edo described as bewildering, the personal insults, unfounded negative accusations and calculated vicious attacks directed at him. Their desperation to question Edo governor as a leader of the party to convene a meeting shows they are a bunch of egotistical and laying narcissist, whose sole aim their souls and would auction the party tomorrow, if they thought it would advance their interest. The only feelings they care about are their own.
He called on the national leadership of PDP to take a closer look of what is happening in Edo state and right the wrongs.
“We are not in a party of one man, where we do not have right to speak without being censored or right to assemble without being spied upon, all these are elements of coup attempt on the party in the state, a case that has drawn widespread condemnation, even from the opposition .
He urged the state’s PDP leadership to urgently tender apology to Governor Obaseki and PDP leadership in the state that were embarrassed by their misconduct. Their actions are unacceptable attacks on democracy.
The September 19, 2020 governorship election in Edo State was won by a coalition of mergers and not a victory for PDP but the people. It is therefore a misplaced pride for anyone to attempt to arrogate such glory to himself. Where was the strength of the PDP in Edo State when the party was in opposition for twelve years, without a chance to win..
Governor Godwin Obaseki and Comrade Philip Shaibu were the time waited agents to bring the PDP back to glory in Edo state and It behooves on all of us to give them the needed conducive environment to enable them to reposition the party for sustainable victory, rather than returning the party to opposition.
Party politics is about negotiation and concensus building . The PDP is a democratic party and not a Military Party of Nigeria.
