Former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, has stated that leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party should be thankful that they were not subjected to probes under successive administrations of the All Progressives Congress.
Okechukwu, a chieftain of the APC, made the comments in response to the PDP’s recent criticism of the APC following an opposition party’s victory in Ghana’s presidential election. PDP spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, had declared that Nigerians would end the APC’s “oppressive rule” and return the country to good governance, security, political stability, and economic prosperity under the PDP in 2027.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Okechukwu hit back, saying the PDP should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and current President Bola Tinubu, through “statesmanship,” refrained from probing the alleged mismanagement and corruption during the 16 years the PDP was in power. He accused the party of overseeing widespread corruption, election rigging, and the reckless sale of legislative and ministerial properties.
Okechukwu specifically cited the privatization of the country’s electricity sector as an example of corruption, describing it as a barrier to industrialization. He also pointed to the 2007 general elections, where he claimed the PDP rigged the vote, a charge publicly acknowledged by then-President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who admitted to the election’s irregularities.
He further criticized the PDP for the sale of legislative and ministerial quarters, which he claimed continued to drain the country’s finances annually. Okechukwu also referred to the PDP’s neglect of the $23 billion Greenfield Refinery project, which he argued could have saved the country over $70 billion in imported petroleum products, thus mitigating some of the current economic hardships.
Okechukwu also recalled efforts by the Buhari administration to reopen discussions on the Greenfield Refinery with the Chinese, which he said were regrettably rejected.
He concluded by urging the PDP to stop insulting the intelligence of Nigerians, reminding them of the damage the party caused during its time in power. Okechukwu emphasized that Nigerians have not forgotten the breach of the presidential rotation convention and the PDP’s disregard for its own zoning rules. He insisted that the PDP should be thankful to God that they were not investigated, as it was this leniency that made it difficult for Nigerians to distinguish between the two political parties.
He added, “We cannot in a hurry forget the deliberate breach of the rotation convention of president from north to south, plus utter disregard of Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandates zoning.
“PDP should not insult the sensibility of Nigerians by assuming that we are morons who will easily forget how they put us in harm’s way.
“Rather they should thank Almighty God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them and that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.”
