PDP Faces More Woes as Members Begin Siddon Look

Rather than diminishing, the woes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appear to be increasing the more aftermath of its crushing defeat in the last General Election.
A Daily Times investigation within its members nationwide revealed a party that appears to be in disarray with discontent and regret written all over many of the members.
This is contrary to the assurances given by the Secretary of the party’s Board of Trustees, (BOT), Mallam Walid Jibrin that the party will not die a natural death, but still has a bright future.
The PDP lost the presidency and quite a number of the states to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just concluded elections making political observers to conclude the imminent death of the party.
Besides, with the loss of the party at the centre and in many states, a lot of the party’s bigwigs have been decamping to the opposition APC, a development that further heightened the fear that the party would soon collapse like a pack of cards.
The investigation revealed that the fear of PDP collapsing is real as many of the members who have not decamped to other parties have started shunning political activities involving the PDP.
One of them, a former governorship aspirant from one of the south west states said he has gone back to his chambers to face his legal practice fully as the future of the party cannot be guaranteed in the new political dispensation.
“I was even in court yesterday. Since I cannot decamp to another party, the best is to take a back seat now in politics after spending over 25 years and let others take over”, he said.
“I am not a desperate or hungry politician to decamp to another party without honour and since I do not share the same ideology with the new party at the centre, I do not see myself associating with them in anyway. So the only thing left for me is my law practice which I’m now facing squarely”, he added.
Asked about the future of the party, he said it is left for new generations as he has done his beat saying he could not say what the future holds for the party for now.
It would be recalled that the BOT Secretary had said that inspite of the present challenges facing the party, it still has a bright future.
Jibrin, expressed optimism that the party will soon bounce back, urging chieftains not to dump the party.
His words: “I want to tell you and the whole world that the various PDP governments since the inception of the party, had done The investigation revealed that the fear of PDP collapsing is real as many of the members who have not decamped to other parties have started shunning political activities involving the PDP.
One of them, a former governorship aspirant from one of the south west states said he has gone back to his chambers to face his legal practice fully as the future of the party cannot be guaranteed in the new political dispensation.
“I was even in court yesterday. Since I cannot decamp to another party, the best is to take a back seat now in politics after spending over 25 years and let others take over”, he said.
“I am not a desperate or hungry politician to decamp to another party without honour and since I do not share the same ideology with the new party at the centre, I do not see myself associating with them in anyway. So the only thing left for me is my law practice which I’m now facing squarely”, he added.
Asked about the future of the party, he said it is left for new generations as he has done his beat saying he could not say what the future holds for the party for now.
It would be recalled that the BOT Secretary had said that inspite of the present challenges facing the party, it still has a bright future.
Jibrin, expressed optimism that the party will soon bounce back, urging chieftains not to dump the party.
His words: “I want to tell you and the whole world that the various PDP governments since the inception of the party, had done the crossroads of history. A time comes that rarely comes in life when a people who are desirous of a lasting change must say so in a profound way. Ndi Anambra; that time is now! The time to secure our future with our votes has finally come…We have demonstrated that when government is sincere, open and honest, our people will heed the clarion call for greatness.
“We have shown that power belongs to Ndi Anambra and that together we can build a prosperous state…Ndi Anambra, anyi bu ife! (We are the light).” Such words that were intended to pull at the strings of the people’s heart and stir them to full consciousness. He said.
According to an APGA source which pleaded anonymity, ‘’The security formations were built up for the state and governor, who is the chief security officer had to impress all the security personnel to be alive to their responsibilities.
“Even those of us in APGA had to be mobilized so that those people will not come up against our governor. You saw what happened on that day, how the PDP people were lamenting and accusing us of rigging the election. But that is not true because all their plans failed because we were proactive,” he added.
In his frustration, immediate past governor of the state, Obi, who was visibly unhappy, called for the cancellation of the election, alleging irregularities in the conduct of the exercise.
Similarly, the federal might of the Army, civil Defence and the police were not there to assist the PDP in manipulating the electoral process due to the victory of Buhari of APC.
Also embattled by the turn of event is senator- elect Uche Ekwunife who accused Obiano of using thugs.
‘’What happened today is shocking and very undemocratic. A lot of hoodlums and thugs have been recruited by the APGA government to rig the election. This shows desperation and it is not good for the polity. They have been going about spreading falsehood that the PDP wants to impeach Obiano after election and I wonder why they are doing that.
‘‘They are talking about impeachment and I ask why the governor is afraid of impeachment, He is the governor and he has the choice of running a populist government that would impact positively on the lives of the people, if he does that, he will become a hero but if he fails, he has himself to blame. If he commits an impeachable offence, he will face impeachment, as far as I am concerned nobody wants to impeach him,” she said.
Interestingly, the plot for Obiano’s impeachment was said to have been endorsed by top PDP members in Abuja and according to our source, the plot would have been climaxed by the conduct of a bye election in Anambra to elect a new governor that would certainly be a PDP candidate Though it was not clear who the next governor would be, three persons had already been penciled as alternatives in the event of Obiano being impeached.
In what appears to be a twist of fate against the PDP, its Presidential candidate did not win the said election, instead, Buhari emerged victorious hence the impeachment plot appears to have failed at the moment.
President-elect Buhari, who is known to be the uncompromising type it was gathered has warned against over heating the polity insisting that the due process of government business must be followed.
“So those who want to remove the governor with trumped up charges of committing impeachable offences have failed. Their party is no longer in power and the confusion in PDP is much that they are only interested in their safety and political future rather than destabilizing Anambra State”, an inside source told Daily Times.
Political watchers are of the view that Gov. Obiano owes his survival of the impeachment plot against him to the victory of APC in the last general election.
They posited that if not for that development, his opponents in the PDP would have over ran the state and throw him out like a villain.
A top civil servant in Anambra who spoke with Daily Times noted: “The crisis and the confusion that Anambra would have experienced had President Jonathan won his election would have made the 2003-2006 political crisis look like a mere child’s play. This state would have experienced a nose dive to the detriment of the common man on the street who have so far found the governor as one that is determined to give governance a human face’’.