SAN FRANCISCO, January 23, (THEWILL) – A member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Ebenezer Babatope on Monday warned of the imminent death of the PDP if anti-democratic forces continue to work against the unity of the party.
Stressing that “divisive forces are back at their old games”, he stated that it was unfortunate the forces that marred the last convention of the PDP in Port Harcourt were again toying with the soul of the party.
Babatope, who spoke at a press conference in Lagos, observed that the same elements were concocting a new scenario by merely zoning the party’s national chairman to the South.
According to him, “We know that they are back at their old game. We understand they are even concocting a new scenario by merely zoning the National Chairman position to the South without the traditional specificity of the particular place in the South.
“This is not acceptable to us. This is blatant treachery and a dubious attempt to rob the Southwest of our just deserve. We will not take this lying low. Out of all the six geographical zones, the Southwest is the only zone that has never occupied the position of the National Chairman.
“We are ready to fight. We are willing to dig into the trenches to protect and defend what is our right. If they are stubborn and indifferent to our position, we are capable and willing to help them pull down the house,” he threatened.
The former Transport minister continued, “I want to talk to you today with deliberate forthrightness, with deep sense and consciousness of a concerned elder, who cannot afford to sit down quietly and pretend everything is going on well in my party.
“In truth and in fact, the PDP is terribly ailing, sick, prostrated by greed hobbled by selfishness, stricken by the absence of equity and maimed by the dark conspiracies of little men, who want to play God.
“We lost the last election in 2015 because the highest hierarchy of our party was hijacked and swindled by fly–by-night mercenaries, who virtually shoved aside men and women of character and impeccable merit and moral distinction, who in more enlightened times, could have helped us secure a deserved victory.”
The PDP BoT member explained that the forces have become so potent that the party needed extra-caution to survive the onslaught by the “untested characters that had descended on it”.
According to him, “While some of us are ready, willing and capable of rescuing our party from plunging into a destructive abyss and permanent forfeiture, some people who are overwhelmed by inordinate ambition are blindly insisting on a narrow provincial self-elevation to the detriment of the greater good of the party.
“The founding fathers insisted that every tribe, that every tongue, that every geo-political zone must all have a sense of belongingness and a sense of equal participation in the affairs of our party.
“The PDP zoning principle was to cultivate our common bond and our common brotherhood. In this rotational platform, all major positions in the party hierarchy were to be distributed evenly and appropriately among the zones.”
About the Author
