Nwaka: PDP Must Redress Lopsided Sharing of Top Party Posts to Achieve Success in 2023

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Former Abia North Senator in the Third Republic, Emma Nwaka, has urged the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to urgently balance the equation of its current power sharing arrangement, which has sparked crisis in the party.

Nwaka told THISDAY that he totally agreed with the “impeccable position” of the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Walid Jibrin, who had reportedly condemned the marginalisation of the South in the sharing of the party’s top posts.

The BoT chairman was quoted to have voiced his concern, saying: “To tell the truth, it will not be fair for the president of Nigeria to be from the North, the chairman of the party from the North and the BoT chairman also from the North.”

While corroborating the BoT chairman, Nwaka said the main opposition party was sending a wrong signal to the southern half of the country by excluding them from the top echelon of the party at the national level.

“The impression this situation creates is that the South is inconsequential in the political equation of the PDP,” he said, adding that the lopsided sharing of top posts was akin to “rubbing salt to injury.”

He stated that the PDP faithful from the South were still nursing the wounds inflicted on them when the presidential ticket went North, adding that the current arrangement of party posts is against the party constitution.

“If the party is serious about chasing the non-performing APC out of power, the situation we find ourselves calls for sacrifice for us to get it right.

“Any political party that thinks it can do without any section of the country is digging its own grave. A stitch in time saves nine. Since we are chasing a black goat, it’s good to make hay while it’s still day time,” the former Abia State PDP chairman added.

Nwaka, who was a member of the national zoning committee of PDP as well as a 2023 governorship aspirant in Abia State, expressed concern over the likely consequences for the main opposition party if the ongoing crisis was not resolved amicably.

The PDP plunged itself into a raging storm after Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, won its 2023 presidential ticket even when the national chairman of the party and the BoT chairman are both northerners.

This scenario has thrown the party into what appears to be internal revolt from party members from the South spearheaded by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.