PDP SENATOR BLAMES PARTY'S WOES IN THE SOUTH WEST ON LACK OF INTERNAL DEMOCRACY

The Chairman of Senate Committee on Defence (Navy), Senator Bode Olajumoke, has attributed the fading popularity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-west to lack of internal democracy within the party's fold.

The Senator, who blamed the recent loss of the party, particularly in the South-west to imposition of candidates on the party, however, said all the political parties in the country did not promote internal democracy.

Olajumoke, representing Ondo North Senatorial District in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, spoke in Akure, Ondo State, during a chat with journalists after he was conferred with the Ondo State Role Model award by a community newspaper, Sunshine Standard, at the weekend.

He faulted the way people who did not win primaries were being forced on people, saying, 'It is by ensuring a level-playing field among people struggling to become party's candidate that the party can overcome some of the problems created by the bad practice.'

'It was evident that something was amiss and we argued over it. We saw it coming. As a member of Board of Trustees of the party, we pointed out these things. What is happening, though unfortunate, is a lesson and I feel greatly concerned not only in the South-west and South-south, but even at the National Assembly.

'I am concerned as a loyal member of the party, especially as somebody who believes in dominant ruling of a political party in a developing nation. We need a dominant party arrangement for a developing economy like ours.

'The recent situation of the party is a manifestation of lack of internal democracy in PDP. We all saw it; we discussed it. I am concerned as a loyal member of the party,' he said.

Olajumoke added that the pressure of inadequacies in the primaries was felt now in the PDP because it was the largest party, adding, 'the problem exists in all the political parties too. There is no internal democracy in any of the political parties too. They are offshoots of the PDP.'

He said unless PDP members did their homework properly in the South-west, it might be difficult to overcome the current situation, which did not augur well for the party.

The Senator expressed surprise at the extent of struggle for political powers and said reasoned that suggestion that political office be made less attractive might be a solution to some of the problems created by huge attraction to political office.

He stressed the need for re-orientation of Nigerians, suggesting the review of schools curricula from primary to tertiary level.