Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Chief Ladosu Ladipo has called for the restructuring of the party to avert future electoral misfortune.
He described the party as a party of few oppressors lording it over the majority, stressing that many party leaders are self-centred.
The party elder from Osun State reflected on the party at the recent Southwest PDP Elders Summit in Lagos chaired by Chief Olabode George.
At the meeting, a party leader from Ekiti State, Ambassador Dare Bejide, warned against the imposition of candidates during congresses and general elections.
He said the party may continue to wallow in crisis, unless a culture of equity, justice and internal democracy is promoted.
The politician lamented that Governor Ayodele Fayose may not give the party any chance of survival, owing to his manipulative tendencies.
He said: “Some party leaders have sat down and compiled the list of delegates to the national convention. In Ekiti, the governor has compiled the names of ward and local government chairmen and delegates.”
Ladipo, who sought to rule Osun State in 1990, said: “We must restructure the PDP. The PDP is not a party now. It is more or less a cash and carry party. Some leaders are self-centred. They don’t carry the grassroots along. This will always lead to disagreement.
“Many people in the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Labour Party (LP) and the Accord Party (AP) are disgruntled and they want to come to the PDP. But, we are not providing an enabling environment for them.”
Urging the party to postpone its convention, he added: “The officers should have interim status, pending the restructuring of the party. If we continue like this, many will desert the PDP and there will be no new entrants.”
The former Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, urged the leaders to dump the culture of imposition and promote internal democracy.
Senator Bode Olajumoke from Ondo State said the party should put its house in order to attract aggrieved APC members.
He said: “We went through an era of negativity and impunity. We now have an opportunity to reflect. The era of imposition and absence of internal democracy should give way. Whatever disaster that befell the PDP was self-imposed.”
.....The Nation