A stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party and former governorship aspirant in Enugu State, Barr Nwabueze Ugwu, Tuesday, claimed that members of the PDP executives are being used by forces outside the party to make PDP’s internal crises unending.
He said the plot was to kill the opposition in Nigeria, which, according to him, was not in the best interest of democracy.
Barr Ugwu, who was a resource person during a political programme hosted on Enugu’s Dream FM, made references to the refusal of the National Executive Committee of PDP to accept Mr Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the National Secretary of the party despite his nomination by the South-East zone of the party to serve out the tenure of Mr Samuel Anyanwu, who, by the constitution of the party, resigned to contest the governorship of Imo State.
Ugwu said the goal was to eliminate virile opposition to the All Progressives Congress-led federal government.
According to him, “PDP ought to be the main opposition party in Nigeria. But as it is, since May 29, 2023, opposition has died in Nigeria. APC ensured that the opposition doesn’t happen again.
“It’s a pity some Nigerians are gullible: offer them money and nobody will talk about what is wrong or right anymore. Political offices ought to be a social contract, but in Nigeria, once someone enters an office, he faces his egocentric interests.”
The human rights lawyer alleged that some executive members of PDP (national) were not working for the party, but for gratifications given to them to destroy the party.
He regretted that PDP has never been fair to the South East since its formation in 1998, noting that “no other region of Nigeria has equalled South-East support for PDP, yet the region has always been trampled upon by the party”.
In his view, “Igbo people support what they believe in totally. This is because no region of Nigeria has the interest of this country at heart more than the Igbo.”
On the refusal of PDP NEC to allow Udeh-Okoye to assume the National Secretary of PDP, Barr Ugwu said, “Maybe it is in the genes of PDP. Why can’t they recognize the man the region has chosen?
“If Udeh-Okoye is allowed to become president, PDP will bounce back as the major opposition. But many won’t want that. The people that suffer are the Nigerian masses because we are now moving from military dictatorship to a civilian regime with no opposition.”
He accused the national chairman of PDP of insincerity, adding that the national chairman would expose himself by allowing Udeh-Okoye to serve out the tenure of the national secretary of the party originally zoned to South East.
In his words, “The national chairman shouldn’t be there because he is not from North Central whose tenure he is serving out. He is afraid that North Central would agitate for his removal.”
He said PDP’s internal crises had no judicial remedy because of the verdict of the Supreme Court that “any internal wrangling of a political party should be settled by the party”.
He urged Nigerian masses to insist that the right thing be done by Udeh-Okoye becoming the national secretary of PDP because “we need a virile opposition in Nigeria, and that is what PDP has failed to do”.
Quoting him, “Udeh-Okoye’s entrance will change the face of opposition. Nigerians should insist that PDP NEC recognize Udeh-Okoye. APC is afraid that Udeh-Okoye would make PDP challenge them.”
Barr Ugwu commended the South-East zone of the PDP for threatening to leave the party if the national hierarchy failed to recognize Udeh-Okoye as the National Secretary, adding that “it will make PDP sit up”.
