2019 ELECTIONS: THE PDP MUST EXIT ITS POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER …GODSDAY ORUBEBE

2019 ELECTIONS: THE PDP MUST EXIT ITS POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

…GODSDAY ORUBEBE

Report by Michael Egiethua in Abuja.

Godsday Orubebe

In an open letter to the national Chairman and leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs under President Goodluck Jonathan, Elder Godsday Orubebe has asked the PDP to either change its old ways and come out of its Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or risk irrelevance and collapse in the 2019 general elections.

In the words of Orubebe, “the PDP was the first political Party in the history of our nation to move from governance to opposition, our party moved into uncharted territory and we struggled to find the right strategy and response to this monumental challenge”.

Orubebe reflecting on last year’s convention of the PDP said that, there were troubling thoughts about the PDP’S readiness to match forward with vigor, courage and sustainable ideas to lead Nigeria into a future that coming generations will be proud to take ownership. In his words, “to achieve this, we must accept the mistakes of the PDP during the sixteen years we held reign over Nigeria’s social, political and economic affairs. We must acknowledge our missteps and draw lessons from those failures”.

Orubebe admonished the PDP that, at a time of hopelessness, division, hunger, confusion and disillusion, the PDP must be a voice of hope, a guiding light and force of resilience where every Nigerian has an equal opportunity to achieve their dreams. In his words, “unfortunately, our Party is still lost in depression and suffering from a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We have gone from a party of pride to a party of shame and gradually receding into the abyss of political reality”. He further noted that the PDP’s failure to come out of its shell has left a national opposition vacuum, within which we have witnessed wanton disregard for the rule of law and the well being of ordinary Nigerians.

He observed that the internal efforts of the PDP to diagnose what led to its losses in 2015 identified imposition, impunity, arrogance and greed as the biggest factors responsible for the unprecedented defeat in the history of Nigeria. He noted that the Party was gradually drifting towards the factors of imposition, impunity, arrogance and greed that brought us to this sorry state.

Orubebe lamented that, “the party is gradually coming under the control of certain individuals who are exhibiting dangerous levels of undemocratic behavior, threatening the entire fabric of the Party. We must take a cue from the idea of democracy itself; no single individual, force or group can be greater than the collective interest of a constituted authority”. Drawing allusion from the woeful loss in the 2010 mid-term elections of the Democratic Party of the United States of America from which it recovered in the subsequent election, Orubebe advised the PDP to work hard to learn its lessons and reposition for the next election in 2019. He said the PDP must emulate this courage of the United States Democratic Party and rescue itself from its shadows of defeat and stop its leakages. 

Orubebe said the PDP must rise to its responsibility of constructive criticism as the official opposition Party and give voice to the voiceless across the nation. He said that our national renewal strategy must take lessons from our collective mistakes and combine them with fresh ideas to design a grand strategy for equal gains in our development journey.

Orubebe explained that his open opposition to the way and manner this current government came to power is vindication for the PDP, that a Party that went to such lengths to gain power had nothing to offer Nigerians after all.

It will be recalled that Orubebe was the only member of the Jonathan administration that raised serious allegations of electoral fraud during the 2015 collation and announcement of the Presidential election at the International Conference Center in Abuja at a time the Chairman of the Party was very invisible and unheard from in the election and post election events that saw the sacking of the PDP as the ruling Party.

Orubebe concluded his letter by suggesting ways to fund the Party away from the few major donors who appear to have held the Party to ransom. He recommended a more egalitarian funding method that will allow small donations from millions of Nigerian who will then see themselves as joint owners of the Party.

In his opinion, this will help to get the necessary funds for the Party, rescue the Party from the stranglehold of major donors and create an atmosphere for true ownership among members of the Party.