Stop crying wolf, mass defections self-inflicted – Osita Okechukwu to PDP
One of the founding members of All Progressives Congress, APC, Osita Okechukwu, on Thursday enjoined the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to stop crying wolf after the horse had bolted, stressing that the brutal damage of mass defection of state governors is self-inflicted.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, Okechukwu maintained that the mass defections from the PDP to the APC is punishment meted out to the “leadership of PDP for impunity; therefore they should first accept the blame for allowing its horse of integrity and loyalty to principles to bolt away in 2023 presidential election before crying wolf today.”
He said, “As CNPP Spokesman then, I warned the PDP to stop self-serving elders of the party, like His Excellency Atiku Abubakar and cohorts from breaching the zoning convention during 2022 presidential primary, power drunk they plunged PDP in this mess.
“It’s evident that the callous negligence of the PDP Constitution that has come back to haunt the party. Am at loss how the PDP leadership allowed Atiku the foremost beneficiary of zoning convention to fly the party flag in 2023; when he was again the beneficiary in 2019 when all the southern presidential aspirants obeyed the zoning convention in 2018 by refusing to participate in the Port Harcourt presidential primary, which was hosted by His Excellency Nyesom Wike, then Governor of Rivers State.
“The chickens have come home to roost, why are they crying wolf? Instead of confessing the grievous political sin it committed in 2023, PDP has neither shown any moral contrition nor introspection, rather they only assumed that the northern electorate will join their impunity against zoning convention, the 4th Republic glue which unite our dear fatherland. The sophisticated northern electorate rejected their impunity against zoning convention, for them Atiku is not Buhari the Mai-Gaskiya.
“The blame game should be distributed among those PDP leaders that supported Atiku to bury the soul of PDP, which was founded on integrity, unity and faith. That is the irrefutable reason that caused the ongoing implosion of the party and the ignoble exodus first by the same elements who began the defection malaise and moved to hijack the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC).
“Could there have been internal contradictions like Wike Masquerade of 5 Governors and Peter Obi’s Obedient Movement; both unintended consequences arising from the breach of the zoning convention if not for those power mongers?”
He noted that rather than the PDP apportioning lamentable blames on the governors who defected or the APC, the party should do a house cleaning and start afresh.