LAGOS MAY 6TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The crisis which took over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since after the general elections in March and April took a turn on Tuesday as the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, as well as some other top members of the party shunned the inauguration of the committee for the assessment and review of the general elections.
Their action coincided with an appeal from President Goodluck Jonathan to feuding members of the party to sheath their swords and focus on repositioning the party ahead of other elections in the country.
Mu’azu, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, Theodore Orji of Abia and Ibrahim Dankwabo of Gombe who are part of the 15-member Post-Election Assessment Committee refused to turn up for the inauguration.
Also absent at the event was the Secretary of the PDP Board of Trustees, Alhaji Walid Jibril, appointed as the secretary to the committee.
Those who turned up for the inauguration included Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha; Interior Minister, Abba Moro; Rivers State Governor-Elect, Nyesom Wike; Makanjuola Ogundipe, Alhaji Adamu Waziri and Chief Pegba Otemolu.
The absence of the party’s heavyweight attracted journalists who began to seek explanations, but National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, told journalists at the party’s headquarters that Mu’azu was not in Nigeria as he had travelled for domestic commitment while adding that the absent governors were also committed officially.
The committee, chaired by Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, is supposed to help reposition the party after a woeful performance at the election.
Ekweremadu confirmed that the party’s performance at the election was, indeed, poor, but appealed to aggrieved members of the party to stop blaming each other over what had happened and could not be immediately remedied.
According to Ekweremadu, the party’s pains and disappointments are well founded, especially given the enormous hopes and prospects the party holds as a pan-Nigerian movement for social, economic, and political transformations.
He said the party’s defeat was a loss to the people of Nigeria who wonder that the party lost the steering at the time it had laid a solid foundation through the transformation agenda of the present administration.
Ekweremadu said: “However, we must appreciate the fact that change is the only constant thing in life. Much as we are pained by the sad turn of events, we must come to terms with the fact that anger, recriminations, self-pity, and blame trading will not take us even an inch away from the harsh outcomes of the 2015 general elections.
“All through human history, even the greatest and strongest empires have suffered one setback or the other at certain points of their existence.
“Instead, the greatest tragedy would be our failure to draw from the lessons embedded in the outcome of the elections.”
He said the current situation was an opportunity to reassess and reinvent the PDP to retake its place in the Nigerian.
Speaking on behalf of Mu’azu, the National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo, commended the party for transforming Nigeria into the largest economy in Africa, saying the party had a lot of achievements it should be proud of.