Date Published: 11/11/09

Dear Editor,

PDP Elders' self-rating & double-standard

Many have rated PDP as a party of confusion, at times lacking in internal democracy and its executives dwelling in double-standard.

The PDP Elders Committee that set out to tackle problems that needed reconciliation in troubled PDP State chapters is doing both good and bad. Reading the newspapers of Thursday November 5, 2009, I came across where the Chairman of that Elders Committee Chairman, Senator (General) Ike Nwachukwu scored his committee between lowest 70% and highest 95% in all the States so far visited for the reconciliation exercise.

Ironically, the State that got highest (95%), he said, was Akwa Ibom and the lowest (70%), Oyo State. To many this is an assertion of clear falsehood. If he had (rather) scored Akwa Ibom 70% and Oyo 95%, one would have seen it probably in order.

What he refused doing in Akwa Ibom where only a party post (State Chairman) was the bone of contention, Nwachukwu cleverly dodged it and contended that it was not mandated to touch the area of State party executive; this is upon the revelation that there was a meeting on October 5, 2009 at Ibori’s house in Abuja where decision was taken on the issue.  What then made his committee to dissolve the Oyo PDP State executive and appointing 35-member committee to run the affairs of the Party in that State, whereas in Akwa Ibom it threw caution to the dogs and ignoring a peaceful implementation of dropping just a member of the executive (Chairman of the Party) as allegedly agreed; pending the Party’s mid-term convention scheduled for March next year. This is the reason many aver that setting up the Committee, in the first instance, was not worth it and that it may have comprised in the Akwa Ibom case.

On this note, one observes that the Committee rating self is not to be relied upon and its double-standard (action) was a good pointer that PDP as a party is livid with confusion, lack of internal democracy, unruliness and double-standard.

Yours sincerely,

Engineer Etim George

Plot 239 Ozumba Mbadiwe

Victoria Island, Lagos State. etimgeorge@yahoo.com