Amid the yet-to-be-resolved crisis destabilising the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the opposition party may face a worse crisis if it fails to address one of the issues that contributed to its failure in the 2023 presidential election.
Ologbondiyan said the party would face another crisis if it failed to zone its national chairmanship position to the North Central region.
Ologbondiyan said this when he appeared on Channels TV’s morning programme, Sunrise Daily, on Thursday, February 6, 2025.
The PDP has been in disarray since 2022, following its national convention, which produced former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its 2023 presidential candidate.
This did not go down well with some party members, as disgruntled PDP governors led by Nyesom Wike worked against the party.
Currently, the PDP is divided over its national secretary position as Sunday Ude-Okoye and Samuel Anyanwu are locked in a legal battle.
However, when asked if there are other issues the PDP needs to deal with to ensure the opposition party stabilises ahead of the 2027 general elections, Ologbondiyan said the national chairmanship position, if not zoned to the North Central, would disrupt the party again.
He said, “We saw it coming, and anybody in the Peoples Democratic Party who is interested in the party’s life cannot claim not to know that this would happen.
“Having said that, I still insist — and I believe I speak for the majority of North Central — that even if it’s going to be for a day, the North Central must be allowed to take over the office of the substantive national chairman, which was vacated by Senator Iyorchia Ayu through which Ambassador Ilyasu Damagum assumed office in acting capacity, which means it’s not substantive.
“So, whether the life of the present executive would end in December or before then, the North Central should be given the opportunity. Otherwise, the challenge that led to G5 is still alive. It may not function in the same way, but it would be on record that the party at a point was unjust to the people of North Central.”
Meanwhile, to resolve its current crisis, the party’s Board of Trustees directed the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, to immediately swear in Sunday Ude-Okoye as substantive national secretary, in line with the declarative judgment of the Enugu High Court, which the Court of Appeal upheld.
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