The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may be on a tailspin. The outcome of Saturday’s national convention of the party shows it has more learning to do. In fact, the PDP has not learnt from its defeat.
The PDP is prodigiously “mammonised”. Money is the only denominator of the party.
I had thought that the PDP would absorb the south-west into its highest hierarchy (because that section of the country had not really been integrated into the party), but I was disappointed when the key political bloc was schemed out of the party’s national chairmanship position by some money badgers.
I was more disappointed when I read that a certain governor said the south-west had not made any contribution to the PDP; hence it was undeserving of the position.
I had also thought that the party would titillate the south-west, which is the nubile bride at the moment, with the slot, but I was surprised that leaders of the party from the region were treated uncharitably.
As it is, it appears that there is no future for the south-west in the party.
Today, the PDP is seen as a political concern of the south-south, and sadly, some leaders of the party from the region are fossilising this assumption by their actions.
Any political equation without a solution for finding X – the south-west is incomplete. The south-west determined the outcome of the 2015 presidential election; I believe it will also play a significant role in determining the outcome of that of 2019. The south-west cannot be ignored, and it should not be ignored. Ignoring the south-west is political immolation.
The south-east may be disinterested in the 2019 presidential election owing to the candidates the two dominant parties – APC and PDP – will present; because both candidates would likely come from north.
Also, the south-east has a hard political choice to make; hence it may prefer to be aloof from the exercise and wait for its turn in 2023. This is not the case with the south-west which has beneficial interest in the current government and may want to maintain the status quo until a more advantageous alternative comes along. The south-west may still hold the ace in the 2019 presidential election.
My point is that the PDP should make political gestures to the south-west if it is serious about defeating the APC in 2019, and letting the region hold its national chairmanship position would have been an infinitesimal, but enticing overture.
The PDP umbrella must cover the south-west or suffer punctures from hailstorms.
Fredrick is a journalist. You can reach him on Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo; Facebook: Fredrick Nwabufo
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