A group, Concerned PDP League, has called for the dissolution of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party over gale of defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to other parties.
The political group also clamoured for immediate constitution of a caretaker committee to pilot the party affairs before its December national congress, it said in a statement to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the Leader of the group, Mr Daboikiabo Warmate, made the call at a news conference on Monday in Abuja.
It said the call was premised on the NWC’s failure to forestall such defections, which were negatively affecting the party.
Warmate said that the NWC had failed to tackle the gale of defection of PDP members to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He alleged that the NWC had compromised and as such sacrificed transparency, fairness and internal democracy on the altar of personal interests and ambitions by some for governorship posts or to return as NWC members.
“The Uche Secondus-led NWC, considering the several allegations of compromise et al against it, does not have the moral capacity and democratic conscience to conduct any transparent, free, fair, and credible and rancour free congress.
“They have lost legitimacy to continue to stay in office because in 2019, PDP had 151 and APC 190 House of Representatives members, while PDP had 43 and APC 65 Senators.
“But as at today, PDP has 116 and APC 236 House of Representatives members, and PDP has 37 and APC, 71 Senators, respectively.
“Our great party within 24 hours lost five serving Federal House of Representative members from Zamfara and Nasarawa States.
“In the last eight months, PDP has lost three serving governors, five serving senators, 10 serving members of the Federal House of Representatives, 30 serving State Houses of Assembly members, two former governors and five former senators.
“PDP lost two former speakers and five members of the Federal House of Representative, two former Ministers, one former Chief of Army Staff and five former State Houses of Assembly members.
“It has also lost five former Commissioners and close to a million once faithful members. This is quite demoralising,’’ Warmate added.
The group’s leader said that over 30 million PDP members were almost every morning greeted with news headlines of defection.
Warmate said that the PDP NWC was fast tracking Nigeria’s transition from a pretentious democracy to an abject one-party, saying we can neither keep silent nor deodorise the obvious failures anymore.
“We, therefore, reiterate our vote of no confidence and the dissolution of the Secondus-led NWC and the constitution of a Caretaker Committee as the only way to set the party free from their miasma.
“We also call on the BoT chairman to honourably resign.
“We urge all well-meaning and lovers of our great party and the National Executive Committee (NEC) to swing into action in dissolving the NWC as a way of discharging the party from the political emergency ward and theater.’’(NAN)
