By Omos Oyinbode, Asaba
Delta State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Edwin Uzor, has attributed the abysmal performance of the party to the impunity displayed by some highly placed party members which led to many defecting to other parties and working against the interest of the party at the presidential polls.
Chief Uzor, who made the allegation during an interaction with journalists, said it was bad that internal democracy that was one of the beauties of PDP was downplayed by members, noting that the mere fact that somebody is your friend or in-law does not make him or her a better candidate or the choice of the greater majority.
In addition to this, Uzor said “so many people trusted by the PDP disappointed the party during the elections”, explaining that “some of such persons hold meetings with us in the day and in the night you discover that they are out holding meetings with the opposition party.
“This was a major challenge that made the PDP to perform abysmally at the polls. The PDP had lost grip at the centre and in some of the states that belonged to the party prior the elections”.
But, he was quick to add that the situation in Delta State was different, hence the PDP performed creditably in the state.
He attributed the victory of the PDP in Delta during the elections to the vision of the party leaders and the entrenchment of internal democracy and fairness to all in the choice of its candidates.
“You could see that with the December 8 PDP primaries, Deltans spoke and the popular candidate in the person of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa emerged as the state PDP governorship candidate. What the party did was simple.
“Let the candidates come out and test their popularity and acceptance by the people, there was no impunity or imposition, and at the end of the day, the people’s governorship choice emerged. That was why we secured Delta for the PDP”, he added.
He said many states that belonged to the PDP prior to the elections but lost to the opposition party were victims of impunity, imposition and lack of internal democracy.
He paid glowing tribute to the State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and other PDP leaders in the state who saw the vision and allowed a level playing ground for all contestants of the party to participate in the elections.
