The Former National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party and Zonal Chairman of PDP, South East Zone, Nze Ozichukwu Fidelis Chukwu, has expressed strong reservations about Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s participation in the 2023 presidential election under the platform of PDP.
Ozichukwu, in a chat with Tribune Online in Owerri on Wednesday, said that his participation in the election was in total violation of the constitution and tradition of the party.
He said that “Waziri Atiku was very highly regarded and respected in the party and admired by Ndigbo, but that singular act hit a fatal blow.”
He also blamed both former President Jonathan and former Governor Nyesom Wike for their expression of interest in the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the PDP.
He said, “Yes, they have rights. It’s their constitutional right, but those rights are expressible under the context of honour and integrity.”
He declared that it was not fair of them to have ignored the sensitivities and sensibilities of the South-East, noting that within the PDP, the South-East had paid its dues and was rightly expecting the PDP to reciprocate.
The immediate past President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide described it as unfortunate that the PDP failed.
He, however, advised those who claim to be leaders of the South-East PDP to review their roles in the denial of the South-East of the PDP presidential ticket in 2023.
He said: “Unfortunately again, those putting bold faces and pretending to be heroes of the Igbo evidently suffer anaesthetisation of conscience.”
The former PG cited “the PDP constitution, which stipulates that the presidency of the country will alternate between the North and the South.”
He said that “the Party’s constitution further states that whichever region it alternates to must, as a matter of tradition and conscience, ensure that it reflects the geo-political character of the region.”
According to him, what the nation seriously needs now is reconciliation and healing, not only with the Igbo, but for all that feel politically disenfranchised, socially excluded, and economically vulnerable, particularly the youths that have been consistently profiled, stigmatised, and consequently alienated.
He described it as of utmost importance for Nigerians to look for a leader who has character, honour, and integrity guided by a sense of history.
He said, “the leader who has a reputation for empathy and compassion, not one driven by the pathology of the IDP of our tumultuous political past.”
He said that Nigerians expect to have such a leader who would be ready, willing, and able to lead them through a new rebirth, a new independence into a new epoch of Nigerian history, and not one driven by the toxic pathology of the IDPs of political upheavals.
He said, “The Nigerian leader is not sure of the morality driving the idea of the formation of a new party.”
He called on the youths of the country “to come together and join hands to build the country of our dream.”
On the APC adoption of the zoning and rotation formula of the PDP, Ozichukwu wishes “that they would not, when it is convenient for them like the PDP, jettison it and adopt the debilitating plural principles and multiple principals.”
He said, “We must begin to do a thorough examination of conscience and ask the right questions.”
According to him, Nigeria was conceived to be a democracy but structured to fail, adding that the littlenesses and petty jealousies of the leaders hastened its failure.
While he advised the Igbos to regain the initiatives and control of their developmental trajectory, he insisted that PDP leaders should save the party from debilitating self-immolation.
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