The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned its former governorship candidate in Kogi State, Senator Dino Melaye, for his recent remarks accusing members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of destroying the party.
Senator Melaye recently alleged that the acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum; National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu; and National Organizing Secretary, Umar Bature, had commercialised the party to the detriment of its members.
He claimed that the party is now defunct, referring to it as "once upon a time."
In a post on his verified Facebook page, Melaye declared, "End of the road for PDP as Damagum, Bature, and Anyanwu irredeemably destroyed the party. We will talk about the commercialisation and privatisation of PDP. PDP is now once upon a time."
On Sunday evening, the Senator added that the party's founding fathers would be "turning in their graves" over what Damagum, Anyanwu, and Bature are doing to the vision of building a national party.
He wrote, "PDP is the only surviving party of the 4th Republic. After 27 years of surviving all shenanigans, Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Lar, Sunday Awoniyi, Adamu Chiroma, Tony Anenih, Abubakar Rimi, etc., will be turning in their graves seeing what Damagum, Anyanwu, and Bature are doing to the dream of building a national party. PDP now, Obituary!!!"
The PDP has been embroiled in a serious crisis since the former Governor of Rivers State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, lost the presidential primary to Atiku Abubakar. Efforts to reconcile with Wike failed before he supported the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, leading to his appointment as Minister of the FCT.
Last week, the NWC established Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committees to address the ongoing crisis, but the move may have worsened the situation.
Chief Bode George, a member of the Disciplinary Committee, refused to serve under Chief Tom Ikimi, citing irreconcilable differences.
Additionally, former National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan has called on acting Chairman Umar Damagum to return to his position as Deputy National Chairman (North) and allow the North Central to nominate a replacement for the suspended Dr. Iyorchia Ayu before any reconciliation can occur.
Responding to Melaye's claims, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, told Daily Trust that the party is far from defunct.
"It is not correct that the PDP is a once upon a time party. If it were, we wouldn't be discussing it. If it were defunct, we wouldn't have 13 Governors, Senators, and members of the House of Representatives. If he is talking about NPN, that's a once upon a time party, not the PDP.
"PDP is a solid party. Yes, it has its challenges like every other human organisation, but we are addressing them, which is why we have set up Disciplinary and Reconciliation Committees. This is part of the party's rebranding. Any institution must review its processes, and this is in line with the NEC's directives.
"This shows that we are operating according to our constitution. PDP is present in every local government area of the country, so it cannot be a once upon a time party. In Edo, for example, people are joining us because we have a well-grounded governorship candidate ready to win the upcoming election. If we were a once upon a time party, people wouldn't be joining.
"At the appropriate time, the party's organs will intervene in our current challenges, and that is what democracy is all about. We have a Governors' Forum that is taking the lead to stabilise the party," he said.
Post-mortem needed before reconciliation - Bode George
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Meanwhile, a member of the Board of Trustee (BoT) of the party, Chief Bode George, has said the recently inaugurated reconciliation and disciplinary committees put together by the party's leadership will not bring peace.
The former National Vice Chairman of the party, South, who had earlier rejected his membership of the disciplinary committee, said what the party needs is a post-mortem of how the crisis started before the committee can reconcile members.
While speaking on a television programme, George said, "The party cannot but take a look at what happened, who created it, who did what to avoid recurrence in the future."
On the allegation that he refused to support Atiku because he's not from his region, George said, "When we went back for the last election, we saw that things were not right. Somebody from the North had just spent eight years. How can we now support another somebody from the North for another eight years? No, it doesn't work that way."
