Accountability Shortcomings: The Impact of Abia PDP's Mistake and its Far-Reaching Consequences | #NwokeukwuMascot

 Opinion 

…The Problem with PDP in Abia State is Lack of Consequences (pt2) by JOK | #NwokeukwuMascot 

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Click here to read part one.

 Ever wondered why most of the major leaders in Abia PDP have capitulated to LP’s Alex Otti and left only few courageous members to speak for the party, play opposition which is a very important ingredient of democracy, and defend democracy as our cherished system of government in the state? Even when the LP Governor has openly violated the constitution by directing the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly not to inaugurate Hon Aaron Uzodike of Aba North State constituency after he won at the Appeal Court, not even one of the major leaders of PDP is on record to have publicly said anything against the looming dictatorship and rise of an Emperor in Abia. 

The truth is that it is not necessarily the fear of Otti but more about night time deals entered with him to torpedo PDP before the last elections. The chicks have come home to roost. 

After betraying PDP as a chieftain of the party, you dare not publicly question or criticize Otti who has the “nudes” of those hitherto great men and women. They have also seen his pattern and know that if they say anything adverse he will not hesitate to reveal how they came to him at night to negotiate the betrayal of PDP.  Whatever reward he gave them would become public knowledge, too. 

As long as Otti is Governor they are in bondage except they choose to do what I will suggest: go public and tell the world that they made a mistake because they were angry for one reason or another, then appeal for forgiveness and understanding.  I am sure the PDP family will forgive and welcome them. 

If on the other hand they think they can sneak back to PDP and continue “happily ever after” they are mistaken because there are so many of us in the party that will never subject ourselves to the same order of betrayal again. In my view, if you cannot go public to confess your past ignoble roles against your own party then quietly leave by choice and join another party to enable us start building afresh. 

Aside from some major stakeholders who betrayed PDP in the last election because of real and perceived grievances, at the heart of the challenge facing the party today is also the flawed mechanism for recruitment of candidates for elections.

Things were not properly done in 2023. 

In most constituencies, the party hierarchy failed to listen to the still small voices of party members during the selection process for candidates but rather conspired to protect personal and financially-driven interests. The grassroots knew who they wanted to run for different offices but those privileged to occupy leadership positions had different ideas based on the singular factor of who will be loyal to them and their parochial agenda that mostly had nothing to do with the wellbeing of Ndi Abia and PDP.

How on earth will a political party ignore popular candidates and choose unpopular ones simply because the hawks have something to benefit from certain persons? Why will loyalty to you as a person be more important than winning election for all of us? 

It is seemingly smart to try to shift the blame to one man but we all know that nobody superintended over the government or led the party alone. If anything, the leader listened to other leaders who possibly misled him while protecting their parochial interests. 

It is disingenuous to seek to make one man the fall guy for the failure to choose the best candidates. 

Such conspiring leaders know that the man they want to blame will never come out in public to respond because he must necessarily continue to carry the burden of leadership. If I may ask, who submitted the lists of those appointed SAs and those elected to party offices from ward to state level under PDP? Obviously, no one man could have known everyone in all our 192 wards and each appointee maintained loyalty to the person that nominated him/her rather than collective good. 

People made recommendations and as someone in a position to see lists, I can take on anyone seeking to distance himself from our collective challenges. Let’s just move forward and stop the cowardly whispers. 

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There were too many PDP leaders and followers who lacked the spirit of sacrifice for the collective good. Once things don’t go their way the roof must be pulled down, Samson style, so that everyone will perish inside the hall. Haba!!!

As an individual in a political party, you are part of a collective and as a member of the collective things must not go your way all the time or we all hit the highway. Leadership is also about sacrificing personal interests to protect the collective interest. If today you have benefited, it is important to know that another person has been denied benefits because of you. Why will hell be let loose because the same you that benefited yesterday did not benefit today? 

Do people even realize that what they claim as achievements and sacrifices to the party were products of privileged positions availed them by the same party? If you are strong as a 'former this and former that', please note that it was the party that made you 'former this and that', and not because of your super intelligence or super sacrifices for the collective good because there are many who made even more sacrifices with better brains and are yet to be recognized or rewarded. We all should be grateful to the party, PDP, and not seek to destroy it. 

Therein lies the benefit of having sagacious leaders who can negotiate for the future when they can’t get what they want in the present. In the good old days, one key thing about the PDP is that if you are qualified for a position but asked to wait by the party you can be sure that in future you will have right of first refusal unless found unworthy of that position, in which case another position will be availed you.

 John Okiyi Kalu 

Apparently, most of those who presented themselves to the party in 2023 lacked patience, tact and negotiation skills . They all wanted what they wanted or we all go bust because they saw themselves as the 'messiah' that all must bow to. 

As it is today, we all have almost nothing because of their political greed and selfishness. Our only asset is with our people who are always ready to move forward and some of our leaders like Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, Ochendo TA Orji, Senator Austin Akobundu, Rt Hon Ude Oko Chukwu etc who still believe in the party regardless of what happened. 

Good enough we also have time to learn and change while in the wilderness. All those who said “my way or highway” are also regretting as much as the rest of us. Looking for one man to blame for our collective error is escapist and we shouldn’t allow anybody to escape because “all have sinned and come short of the glory”. 

We succeeded together and also failed together without exception. 

Cone let’s rebuild together or you leave quietly so that others who never liked you can come join us. When people say PDP was this and that they were talking about you and if you leave calmly they will join us to rebuild PDP and deliver a NEW PDP to the people of Abia State with young people leading the renaissance

It must be “youth o’clock” if PDP will rebound quickly in Abia State. 

Like it or not, no other political party has the election winning capacity of PDP in Abia State. All that happened in 2023 was that PDP betrayed PDP not that we were defeated by any other party. Yet, we maintained a healthy majority at the state house of assembly as proof of our strength and depth. 

-Nwandugbom JOK is the voice in the wilderness