Politics

Okupe says PDP’s impunity caused its convention saga

Published

8 years ago

August 17, 2016

Aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, has said that impunity in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), should be blamed for its Wednesday convention saga.

According to him, the Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC), should not be blamed for the ugly events that followed the national convention of the party, where police reportedly sealed-up the initial venue for the events, forcing the party to reconvene in a makeshift venue.

Okupe noted this in a statement he released on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

“The failed PDP convention cannot and should not be blamed on our political adversaries. Rather the blame should rest squarely on the failure of internal conflict resolution machinery of the PDP, the surprising naivety and desperation of many to seize power and control the party and the gullibility of majority of the followership, who have become entrenched in the cesspool of pervasive impunity of our leadership over the years,” he said.

He however, commended the National Executive Committee (NEC) for throwing sentiments aside and extending the tenure of the “controversial caretaker committee by one year and allow for future expansion of the membership of the committee”.

Okupe added, “The import of this is that the party has now officially jettisoned the ‘Microwave’ strategy hitherto, employed by the leadership, and allowed for ample time to address all issues.

“By allowing for new inclusions into the members of the caretaker committee, the leadership obviously has made room for possible reasonable negotiation with the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s group, which is inevitable and a political imperative, if the party must remain United.

He cautioned that the outcome of the event in Port Harcourt should neither be the time for victory songs nor a season for political vendetta, but a time the party must seek lasting and honest peace.

By Ebere Ndukwu …

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