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| Atiku |
By: EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has lamented the fate
of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the South-West and alleged betrayal of
the people there by the national and zonal leaders of the ruling party.
Noting the easy victory of the party in the 2011 presidential
elections in all but one of the South West states, Abubakar said that it was
easy to conclude that the party negotiated the presidential elections with
zonal leaders at the expense of the gubernatorial, National Assembly and other
elective positions.
“It still remains a paradox to me how the presidential
candidate of the party would win massively in all but one state of the South
West, yet the party failed to produce a single state governor in the region and
could only produce 18 State Assembly members in the same election,” Abubakar
said in a statement prepared ahead of the forthcoming zonal congress of the
party in the South-West.
“My experience in politics tells me that this paradox can
only be explained in one way, that the
leadership of the party must have abandoned the party and negotiated the
victory of the President at the expense of the party.”
Alleging insincerity on the part of some leaders of the
party, the former Vice-President thus called for sincerity in the application
of party rules and the abandonment of divide and rule policy in the handling of
party affairs.
“Recent events have shown that the leadership of the party
has demonstrated insufficient sincerity in resolving the numerous crises which
are pitching the party members against themselves.
Political manoeuvring that relies on the politics of
patronage and arbitrary application of sanctions will not sustain the popular
will of the people through which the party can recover the lost ground.
“A group of concerned professionals with PDP interest from
the South- West carried out a study in which a state-by-state analysis of the
crises in the party was made.
“The body made far-reaching recommendations in their
document which was submitted to the leadership of the party. If the party
leadership had paid attention to some of their recommendations, the outcome of
the election in Ondo State could probably have been different.
“It will be useful for the incoming South-West Executive
Committee to study this report and prepare a blueprint for the reversal of the
dwindling fortunes of the party in the region.
“The eloquent silence of respected leaders on the various
crises is a disturbing sign which leaves majority of the members confused.”
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