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By Chukwudi Nweje
Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, yesterday, noted that the PDP will have to work hard at ameliorating the pains of the South East zone over their inability to produce the party’s presidential candidate if it hopes to win votes in the region in 2023.
“As it is now, the PDP has to do a lot of work in the South East if they are to garner votes from the region. I cannot phantom the reason why the PDP denied us the ticket, if you ask me, I cannot say, I will not be convinced by any argument by anybody on why we were not given the ticket. I made it clear that it is a very bitter pill for the South East to swallow and we are looking forward to how the PDP will ameliorate that decision it took”, he said.
Nwodo, a former governor of Enugu State during the aborted Third Republic, who is also, National Chairman, Greater Nigeria Movement (GNM), a Pan-Nigerian movement founded to promote social cohesion, economic inclusion and good governance, regretted that despite the appeals by eminent members of the party that the zoning arrangement of the PDP, by which it is the turn of the south, particularly, the South East to produce the presidential candidate for 2023, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), decided to throw the contest open to all.
He said the party jettisoned the zoning agreement that power should rotate to the south, particularly the South East in 2023 when the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party decided to throw the race open to all.
According to him aspirants from the South East participated in the primary, but regretted that the outcome was painful and left a sour taste in the mouth of the South East, which has shown unflinching loyalty to the PDP since 1999.
He said , “The PDP threw its primary open for everybody to contest despite the campaign from those of us from the South East that the zone should be given a chance. But, as party members, we were part of the process leading to the decision and we had our day making our case. We accepted the decision of the party, our members participated in the primaries. Except for Mr. Peter Obi who withdrew and left the party, probably to see if he can get a nomination from another party, the others contested. Unfortunately, the PDP was not fair to us, the aspirants from the South East preformed very poorly.”
He said the post political equation after the PDP primary has again short-changed the South East in the scheme of things, a development he said the party did not put into consideration in their action.
“As it is today, we are suffering President Muhammadu Buhari’s pronouncement after he won the last election on how he will divide patronage, that those who gave him 97 per cent votes will get 97 per cent patronage and those who gave him five per cent votes will get five per cent patronage. We do not even have one per cent patronage and the PDP is aware of this”, he said.
