The founding fathers and dedicated leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party have been called upon to unite and rescue the party from imminent collapse.
This plea comes from Mr. Owoseni Ajayi, former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ekiti State.
Ajayi expressed concern that certain dissidents within the party are working to destroy it through anti-party activities.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti to LEADERSHIP, Ajayi, who served under former Governor Ayodele Fayose’s administration, emphasized that stakeholders who were instrumental in the party’s formation and have greatly benefitted from it must act to resolve the ongoing crisis within PDP.
“People like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Senator David Mark, Chief Bode George, Senator CK Awoyelu, Senator Sule Lamido, Senator Bukola Saraki and other leaders of the party, all of them should come together to save and rescue the party from its present crisis, so that Nigeria will not become a one-party state,” he said.
Ajayi further alleged that some individuals, claiming to be PDP leaders in Abuja, are allegedly collaborating with the ruling All Progressives Congress and running the party as though it were a faction of the APC.
“The crisis in the PDP is a crisis of ego of the personalities in the party. Because the structure of the party is under the dissidents, there are no people to challenge them, so the issue of disciplining them does not arise,” he stated.
He also pointed out that efforts are being made by the PDP’s Publicity Secretary and National Legal Adviser to address the party’s negative image. However, some leaders in the party reportedly oppose efforts to bring peace and resolve the crisis.
“In Ekiti state here, the party will want to conduct a congress, in compliance with the constitution of the party, but the former governor will now go to court using his cronies to institute legal action to stop the party from conducting congress and to the PDP, he is with the ruling party,” Ajayi explained.
Ajayi accused some individuals within the party of using federal government resources to destabilize the opposition party, despite claiming allegiance to it. “Using the resources of the federal government to install stooges… across all the structures of the PDP in the country,” he said.
The senior lawyer also advised President Bola Tinubu to remain cautious of individuals who claim to be advocating for his seamless second term but may have ulterior motives. He warned against allowing these forces to undermine democracy.
“They shouldn’t allow them to truncate democracy, because if there is no viable opposition in any nation’s democracy, people will turn somewhere else which may not augur well for our democracy,” Ajayi cautioned.
He added that the current situation in APC-controlled states suggests the country is moving towards a one-party state. The ongoing crises in Rivers, Osun, and other states not controlled by the APC, according to Ajayi, are indicative of this worrying trend.
