A former National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Ray Nnaji, has identified lack of internal democracy as the cause of the defeat suffered by the party during the 2015 general elections, faulting calls for the removal of the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.
Nnaji who stated this on Sunday in Enugu in a telephone interview with the Punch, said: “Lack of internal democracy in PDP was the cause of the woeful outing in the general elections.”
He stressed that PDP “elders” who caused the defection of five governors to the All Progressives Congress, APC, should be blamed for the party’s failure in the presidential poll as well as the other electoral defeats the party suffered, accusing them of not allowing internal democracy to thrive.
Nnaji insisted that the Mu’azu-led PDP national executive committee should not be blamed for the failure of the party to win the presidential poll, adding that all members of the PDP should share in the blame of the party’s poor outing in the general elections.
He said: “The fact that the party failed woefully in the elections should not be attributed just to the national chairman or the national executive committee.
“Everybody should share in the blame. Remember that before he (Mu’azu) came in, there was crisis in the party.
“The people that should be blamed are the elders who allowed five governors to decamp to the APC; that move nailed the coffin of the PDP.
“Such a thing has never happened anywhere in the world. So, all those who contributed to the defection of the five governors should be blamed.
“If those five governors had not left, the opposition would not have been strong enough to effectively challenge PDP in the elections.”
‘The former PDP auditor, who said the development was good for the country’s democracy as well as the fortunes of the PDP, pointed out that it is an opportunity for the party to know its true members and those he described as “saboteurs”.
“There is nothing static in life except change; it is also an opportunity for the party to know who is a true member. Some people are saboteurs, they pretend to be genuine members but in truth they are not.
“The leadership of the party should not be left to people who are only interested in lining their pockets,” he added.
On the Mu’azu led NEC, Nnaji is of the opinion that they should be given the opportunity to salvage the party and turn its fortunes around.
“The leadership of the party should not be crucified; they should be given the opportunity to redefine the party so that it could become a credible opposition that can wrest power from APC in 2019.
“This is possible because some of the people that caused problems in PDP are now in APC and surely they will also cause problems in APC,” he said.
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