You have made your mark, resign when the ovation is loudest – PDP Chieftain Fabiyi tells Damagum
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oladimeji Fabiyi, has condemned the ongoing crisis in the party and how it has impacted the outcome of the just concluded gubernatorial election in Edo State, where Nigeria’s ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), emerged victorious.
Speaking on AIT talking politics programme, Kakaaki, which was monitored by Neptune Prime, Fabiyi talked about the PDP leadership crisis, urging the acting national chairman Ambassador Iliya Damagum to resign when the ovation is loudest.
He said, “Nigeria is going through a lot now. If we couldn’t get our political engagement right, this country will continue to sink further, I am disappointed in the INEC.
Asked whether the APC emerged victorious because of the alleged sign of fragility the PDP finds itself, Fabiyi said, “I don’t blame APC, I blame PDP, I am lucky to start with the party barely a year it was founded and at a place where decision about the party and the country were made, so I understand all of these strategies, let me give you one quick analysis.
“PDP has been lucky to achieve some level of success but they have failed in managing those successes, again as they are experiencing failure, still they couldn’t manage those failures – does that say anything to you? That is PDP as it is.
“Then it means that if you can not manage both success and failure, something is fundamentally wrong with you, and what are these fundamental problems you have? This is exactly what PDP has not been able to sit down, look into, analyse, and resolve.
READ ALSO: Four PDP govs declare support for Damagum as acting chairman in ongoing leadership crisis
“The problem of PDP is not about structure, if you tell me about structure, PDP has structure, one of the best political party structure anybody can have in the world, I was there, the organs of the party functioning from board of trustee, to NEC, from National Convention, NWC, zonal working congress and all that. It’s not about structure, not about administration, not about finance, not about management of youth and women affairs, not about organisation, and when you leave all of these internal items I mentioned, you go on the outside.
“PDP in the past was able to manage external relationship, there was a time in this country where PDP formed a national government of unity, where you have government of AD, APP joining PDP government. There were times when PDP had it’s internal democracy, well managed, disciplined, controlled, and with full respect for party constitution, all of the values were responsible for the success the party achieved, why did we deviate? The moment the party deviated from these values, we began to run into trouble.
“They deviated because of human factor, in the sense that there is struggle for control, struggle for power, not out of place to struggle for control in any political setting, but it must not be to the extent that it will shake the foundation of the party, it will finish the existence of that party and that is exactly what is going on in PDP as we speak.
“So the moment the party deviated from these ideals, discipline, respect for constitution, internal democracy, supremacy of the party and until this moment they’ve not been able to sit down and look each other on the face ‘the so called leaders’ and say the truth, talk to themselves, this is the problem and that is why it has degenerated to this level that somebody who thinks he has so much money, so many resources and he wants to control everything.”
Asked about the national executive meeting which was rescheduled from September 26th to October 24th, and the consistent calls for the removal of the Damagun-led leadership, the PDP Chieftain said, “This is exactly what we are saying, it is this unnecesary struggle for power. How can you tell me a governor who serves his eight years and left still wants to control the structure of the state? I still want to control the governor that just came in?
“It is an aberration, it is not done anywhere, and that is why the board of trustees who are supposed to be the consequences of the party, quite a number of them cannot come out and talk. We are going to challenge them. This question is going to the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, the BOT chairman, and all other BOT members, including the governors and those who are referred to as the stakeholders of the party.
“Where do they hope to see this party in the next ten years? Whether they are still alive or not, they should tell us, was this how they met the party? And again, I am going to throw a question to Minister Wike, who is a dramatic person in all of this. For us the younger generation of this party, we will not allow anybody, anyone that the party has brought to the level of prominence, influence and power to mortgage our own future, it’s not going to happen.
“So my question to Wike and his supporters is that all these struggle for control, nation, state, local government structure, who is it for? What is it for? Is it for himself for 2027? He should come out and tell us, or is it for somebody else, so that we can know where he stands. It’s a question so that when he is having his next media chat, I Oladimeji Fabiyi is asking him today. I just asked the other leader. All these struggle for control is what it is for?
“I’m sure he cannot be governor again. If he wants to be Senator, he can not control the entire national structure, so is it for him? Does he want to be president in 2027?
He has been a good ambassador of the PDP. The APC will grant that.
“In his next media chat, he should tell us, let us know where he stands so that this deliberate confusion, deliberate crisis will stop. We will not allow them to mortgage the future generation of this party.
“On speculations that the crisis rocking the PDP at different levels is because of the absence of ideology, Fabiyi said, “That has been the big challenge, that’s the issue, if not because the constitution said that if you leave your party or resign, for instance the National Assembly, you loose your seat, but you find out that in the National Assembly, if an APC guy resigns and joins PDP, its not going to work, but let PDP resign and joins APC, before you see it, it will be all out, that’s why I said it’s about human factor.
“Our laws provided for all of these things, but the individuals on the driver’s seat chose what part of the law they want to obey. It’s a big challenge, look at what’s happening in the PDP, and that’s why yesterday I made a release and advised the acting national chairman of the PDP, Damagum, the man I respect so much, fine gentleman, a political strategist who is well experienced in politicking anyhow you want to look at it, who has shown capacity that he can lead, because he came in when the ball was being dropped and was able to at least achieve some level of sustaining the party, that shows he has the capacity to lead.
“That does not mean an individual is bigger than the party. Why do you have the constitution? You have the constitution to be able to regulate human interaction and action. That is why you have interaction to be able to reset order in the society.
“Ambassador Damagum himself is a product of that constitution, and I asked in my statement if, for instance, when Ayu left, some party leaders said no it can’t be you, it has to be that deputy national chairman from the south, will he sit idly and not fight? Because there was a constitutional provision that said, “when a national chairman leaves, the deputy national chairman from that zone takes over,” and that was why he came in as an acting national chairman.
“This is not personal, it is about what is there in the books of the PDP and I said it’s high time he left the stage when the ovation is loudest, he has tried, he should not let anybody use him as a tool, because when the chips are down, most of these people will desert him.
“Since 1999, PDP has had 16 national chairman, 14 were substantive, 2 were in acting capacity, now Damagum as acting capacity and Akinwonmi who acted when Secondus left, so we have had 16. All of these chairmen had one way or the other made their mark and left. You have made your mark, leave.
“There’s no point shifting the goal post in the middle of the game, going to say you must remain, I look at some governors saying he must remain, I just laugh. See what PDP has become. These are people who were not in PDP when we formed PDP. These are people who just came to join the party, and they want to tell us they own the party? It’s not going to happen,” Fabiyi said.
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