Zonning Made PDP lose 2015 Elections

Zoning made PDP lose 2015 presidential poll –Babatope

 0

BY OUR REPORTER ON AUGUST 9, 2015POLITICS

FROM TONY OSAUZO, BENIN

The zoning ar­rangement of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP), which was jettisoned af­ter the death of President Umaru Yar’Adu led to the defeat of the party in the last presidential election, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said yesterday in Benin, Edo State capital.

He stated this while deliver­ing a lecture entitled: ‘Nige­ria’s 16 Years of Democratic Experiment -Which Way For­ward?’ organized by Edo State New Dawn, a group under the PDP in the state.

For the PDP to stand a chance of regaining the presi­dency in 2019, Babatope said the party would have to pick its presidential candidate from any of the states from the North.

He pointed out that apart from the actions of impunity, arbitrariness and imposition, allegedly exhibited by the PDP’s bureaucratic machinery during the elections, the PDP was never ever able to resolve the agitation by Northern lead­ers that the presidency should be ceded to the North due to the sudden death of Yar’Adua, until the problem consumed the party and made way for its defeat in the 2015 presidential election.

Babatope while urging the party to imbibe internal de­mocracy and allow the young­er generation to take over the leadership of the party, said the insinuation that President Mu­hammadu Buhari may not run in 2019 due to his age, may become a major problem that may trigger a dangerous split in the party’s arrangement for 2019, adding, “Therefore we must be ready for 2019. And no matter what it is, the po­litical situation in 2019 may continue to be tense and over charged.”

He spoke further: “Facts re­main however that we (party elders) made mistakes in the preparations of our party for the elections. For example, it was wrong for our party’s Board of Trustees not to have met when we were engulfed with the party campaigns for the elections. Our party played into the waiting hands of the opposition with this kind of situation.

“Any of the political par­ties in Nigeria that attempts to bring impunity to our system or that attempts to push off the effective voice of the people in the determination of its presi­dential candidate will bite the political dust and sentence itself to total failure and col­lapse.

“The PDP having suffered defeat once in its 2015 experi­ence in the hands of impunity and anti-democratic process, will completely write itself off if it once again destroys the democratic process by closing its doors to popular opinion and democratic will in the se­lection of its candidates.

“If the APC decides to subvert democratic process of nominating candidates for the election, it will equally sentence the party and the party’s operations to irre­deemable frustration and despair. In other words, 2019 will decide many things for Nigeria’s future as a demo­cratic nation.”

In his welcome address, leader of the New Dawn, Senator Owie said: “We are asking the 8th National As­sembly to urgently commence the amendment of the Nige­rian Constitution, which they have done twice to give au­tonomy to Local Government Councils but unfortunately some State Houses of Assem­bly that were to rubber stamp this turned it down because if you don’t have autonomy of the local government Nigeria can’t develop the rural area.

“In the next line of amend­ment, any House of Assembly in Nigeria that votes against autonomy of the local gov­ernment, the Nigeria Labour Congress, the ALGON, the market women and men should take possession of their Assembly, they wouldn’t sit until they support the au­tonomy of local government because enough is enough of destroying that arm.”

“We lost our way and I want to on behalf of the PDP tender unreserved apology to each and every one of you, the youths, the women, the lead­ers for the grievous mistakes we all made, I plead for your forgiveness. We provided bad leadership, we were self-centered, only thinking of our interest not the interest of all of us, it will never happen again.

“The voice of one person almost became the voice of all of us, the grace of God will never allow that happen again, we shall all participate in de­ciding our destiny. One major mistake I must plead with you to forgive us for is the unnec­essary quarrel and issues that started from 2006, 2007 which led to parallel congresses, and divided us.

“We will lead this party PDP back to Government House in Benin City and we shall take back Aso Rock in 2019. All those that were deregistered from the party, you all should assist me to bring them all back to the par­ty; let us reconstruct this party once again. I am to further reassure you that the present executive of the PDP from the ward up to the state level, their tenure will end this August. Anybody who thinks he has done well should come back and apply and you will decide whether you want him or not and it must be done transpar­ently.”

Babatope said, “PDP is ready to fight to get back to government house in Benin City. At the National Level I want to tell you that there is nothing that the APC govern­ment is claiming today that wasn’t done by the Jonathan administration, they are only posturing.” On his part, High Chief Aleogho Raymond Dokpesi, who explained that the New Dawn in Edo State is meant to rebuild the PDP collectively, said the party was determined to reconstruct it­self and regain power in Edo State in 2016 and at the Fed­eral level in 2019.

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

Teryila Ibn Apine is a public affairs analyst and a blogger.