PDP may go into extinction soon - Doyin Okupe

The Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, says the Peoples Democratic Party may soon die.

Doyin Okupe

The former presidential spokesman said the PDP might go into extinction soon except the party undergoes a complete overhaul.

Okupe said this in a Facebook post on Thursday.

He commended the PDP for the formation of a body headed by Chief Raymond Dokpesi to increase its membership.

He, however, stressed that the PDP must embark on a complete overhaul if it must remain relevant in the next four years.

He said, “The time has come for the PDP, if it must remain politically relevant, to embark on a total overhaul and reform itself. It must engage Nigerians in a new coalition for the sole purpose of putting our dear country on the path to true, real and the enduring change that will, once and for, all establish us as a major global player, not pretenders that we presently are.

“The PDP must reform lest it dies, God forbids, a painful and insidious death.”

Okupe said he feared that the PDP might soon die due to its declining acceptability.

He, however, said the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government had been able to twist the minds of Nigerians such that the PDP appeared as a corrupt party.

He noted that overtime, Nigerians would see that the APC and the PDP are the same.

He said, “The party (PDP) has suffered very serious bashing from the sustained avalanche of assaults from the gigantic propaganda machinery of the now ruling party — the APC.

“The credibility of the party as a veritable political alternative to the APC has been nearly irreparably damaged. Some of the recent disclosures and more that may come up from the impending probes will further damage the national acceptability of the party.

“At the end of the day, the APC may not meet the expectations of Nigerians or may, in fact, fail outright over time but the PDP, as it is presently constituted, will not be an acceptable alternative to the majority of Nigerians now or in the future.”

Okupe, who was one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s biggest critics during the run-up to the last presidential election, said both the APC and the PDP lacked ideologies and proper leaders.

He said while the PDP was created as a coalition to wrest power from the military, the APC was a merger of several interest groups set up to wrest power from the PDP.

PDP may go into extinction soon - Doyin Okupe

Confusion over Jonathan’s campaign committee

There is confusion in the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party over when the party will inaugurate its Presidential Campaign Committee.

Doyin Okupe

The committee, which is headed by a former National Chairman of the party, Ahmadu Ali, was made known during the inauguration of the party’s National Campaign Council, headed by its National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on December 11.

It was meant to be inaugurated the following day at Legacy Building, Maitama, Abuja.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that neither the party nor the Presidency can speak authoritatively on when the committee will be inaugurated.

Since no one knows this, it is also observed that there is no plan yet as to when the committee will release President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign itinerary.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, told our correspondent that he was not in the position to state when the President’s campaign would start, adding that a committee was being put in place for that purpose.

“I’m not in charge of that; I don’t know where and how the campaign would run,” he told our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday.

Also, the National Secretary of the party, Prof. Wale Oladipo, when contacted, was unable to give specific date on when the committee would begin work.

Initially he said it would be inaugurated this week, but when reminded that both Thursday and Friday had been declared public holidays, he said he was not sure.

He said, “The committee will be inaugurated this week, or before it runs out. Anyway, we are working on it.”

The committee, which is being considered as being juicy, already has N21.27bn to work with.

Meanwhile, there are indications that prominent members of the party from both the North-West and North-East may have rejected the headship of the President’s campaign committee.

Their refusal to stand up for the President, it was gathered, was as a result of the general apathy to the President’s second term ambition in the area.

Ali, who is heading the committee now, is from the North-Central.

A former member of the Senate, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida, was the director general of the campaign in 2011.

He is from Kaduna State.

It was learnt that the Presidency and the national leadership of the party were still scouting for more people to fortify the campaign committee.

A presidency official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The President wants more capable hands in the committee. He knows that this election is different from the one held in 2011.

“Besides, since the opposition, the All Progressives Congress had named its committee members, the PDP and the Presidency have to return to the drawing board.”

While the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, is the director general of the APC’s Presidential Campaign, a former Commissioner of Information in Lagos State, Mr. Dele Alake, is its spokesperson.

It will be recalled that the President of the Senate, David Mark, had admitted that the PDP has serious opponents to contend with at all levels during the forthcoming 2015 general elections.

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Confusion over Jonathan’s campaign committee