Atiku laments betrayal of S-West PDP

By EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has lamented the fate of the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the South-West and alleged betrayal
of the people there by the national and zonalleaders of the ruling
party.
Noting the easy victory of the party in the 2011 presidential
elections in all but one of the South West states, Abubakar said that
it was easy to conclude that the party negotiated thepresidential
elections with zonal leaders at the expense of the gubernatorial,
National Assembly and other elective positions.
"It still remains a paradox to me how the presidential candidate of
the party would win massively in all but one state of the South West,
yet the party failed to produce a single state governor in the region
and could only produce 18 State Assembly members in the same
election," Abubakar said ina statement prepared ahead of the
forthcoming zonal congress of the party in the South-West.
"My experience in politics tells me thatthis paradox can only be
explained in one way, that the leadership of the party must have
abandoned the party and negotiated the victory of the President at the
expense of the party."
Alleging insincerity on the part of some leaders of the party, the
former Vice-President thus called for sincerity in the application of
party rules and the abandonment of divide and rule policy in the
handling of party affairs.
"Recent events have shown that the leadership of the party has
demonstrated insufficient sincerity in resolving the numerous crises
which are pitching the party members against themselves.
Political manoeuvring that relies on the politics of patronage and
arbitrary application of sanctions will not sustain the popular will
of the people through which the party can recover the lost ground.
"A group of concerned professionals with PDP interest from the South-
West carried out a study in which a state-by-state analysis of the
crises in the party was made.
"The body made far-reaching recommendations in their document which
was submitted to the leadershipof the party. If the party leadership
hadpaid attention to some of their recommendations, the outcome of the
election in Ondo State could probably have been different.
"It will be useful for the incoming South-West Executive Committee to
study this report and prepare a blueprint for the reversal of the
dwindling fortunes of the party in the region.
"The eloquent silence of respected leaders on the various crises is a
disturbing sign which leaves majority of the members confused."