By CHINENYEH OZOR
Nsukka— former National Chairman of Peoples Democracy Party, PDP, and first executive governor of Enugu State, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, has vowed not to relent in his advocacy for internal democracy in the party.

Nwodo, who spoke in an interview with newsmen at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he received a merit award from Faculty of Arts on the occasion of Chinua Achebe’s International Annual Conference said “until I die, I will continue to champion internal democracy in political parties.”

A victim of  lack of internal democracy during his brief stint as national chairman of the PDP,  Dr. Nwodo  explained that even if he was made the president of the country; he was prepared to

serve for only 24 hours in order to promote internal democracy.

He noted that there must be internal democracy within the party, and vowed never to relent in his struggle to ensure that internal democracy was enthroned in the PDP.

Dr. Nwodo, who presented a paper on, “the role of political parties in the leadership development in Nigeria and Africa in the third millennium”, before being conferred with the merit award, stressed that unhealthy tribal and ethnic agitation was a factor militating against stable leadership and development in Nigeria.

He also noted that political parties, not individual political leaders, were at the heart of a country’s democracy machinery, adding that people could not  think of democracy without parties playing several roles in the democratic consolidation.

He charged the electorate to hold politicians accountable to their manifestos.

The former PDP national chairman also said electoral viability of multiple political parties was crucial in sustaining democratic governance, adding that political parties provided the citizenry with the choices in election.

He also noted that political parties play roles of socialization of citizens to democratic values and behaviours and  integration of new constituency into political system.

He identified inefficient and corrupt political leadership as a major factor militating against development in Nigeria and Africa generally.