PDP crisis is based on godfatherism-Abubakar

A former member of the National Assembly, Abubakar Sodangi, has blamed the current leadership tussle in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on “godfatherism, impunity and insincerity.”

Recall that the leading opposition party has been in crisis since its first inconclusive national convention which saw the emergence of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in May 2016.

Following the inauguration of the committee, factional leader of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff dragged the party before an Abuja Federal High Court, which in its ruling, sacked the Caretaker Committee, saying it was illegally constituted .

Despite the court ruling, the party during the rescheduled convention on August 17 2016, still in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, extended the tenure of the Makarfi-led committee by one year.

However, both aggrieved camps recently agreed to sheath their sword and give peace a chance.
Speaking with Vanguard, the former lawmaker from Nasarawa State insisted that the PDP since inception has never had a true leader.

According to Sodangi, “Yes I have been a staunch member of the party. Unfortunately, it has been difficult to correct the party hierarchy at all levels.

There has never been a true leadership in the party since its inception. Impunity, godfatherism, insincerity, favouritism, nepotism are the things troubling the party.

“This is one of the reasons you see the party having two factions even as an opposition party. There is Sheriff faction and the Makarfi faction; there is no fear of God in PDP. I cannot be where the leadership of the party from the grass roots can only be put in place through hand picking. An opposition party such as the PDP should not be engrossed in crisis as it is witnessing now. They have not seen the need to drop their ways of doing things wrongly. The courts are also not helping matters.

“A high court in Port-Harcourt said the PDP should hold their convention and that the police should provide cover, another court in Abuja gave another judgment! All those parading themselves as party leaders are not true leaders of the party.

“In PDP, everything is monetized, nothing goes for nothing. I hope they will learn their lesson that where there is no vibrant opposition, there will be no democracy. PDP has failed and they are still failing.

“I hope they will wake up from their selfishness. Does that mean you have abandoned the party? I am out of PDP. I have divorced the party, I will never go back to the party again. For over a year,

I stayed without a party until I joined APC where all my people said I should be because things are done rightly there.”