Defection of G-5 Govs to APC Nailed PDP’s Coffin – Ex-National Auditor

A former National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Ray Nnaji, on Sunday faulted calls for the sack of the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, following the party’s poor performance in the just concluded 2015 general elections.

X-raying the party’s performance, Nnaji said “Lack of internal democracy in PDP was the cause of the woeful outing in the general elections”.

The former national auditor, who spoke with a PUNCH correspondent in Enugu, Enugu State, stressed that PDP “elders”, who contributed to the defection of five governors to the All Progressives Congress, APC, should be held responsible for the party’s failure in the presidential, as well as the other polls, in which the party suffered embarrassing defeats.

He accused the unnamed PDP elders of not allowing internal democracy to thrive in the party.

While exonerating the Mu’azu-led PDP national executive committee of blame for the party’s failure in the presidential election, Nnaji insisted that all members of the party should share in the blame for 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”.

Nnaji, however, noted that the development was good for the country’s democracy as well as the fortunes of the PDP.

According to him, it is an opportunity for the PDP 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.

Nnaji suggested that the Mu’azu-led NEC should be given a chance to revive the party’s fortunes.

“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.

by Greenstarnetwork admin..