By Henry Umoru

SOME eight months after it lost out at the April 2015 presidential polls, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may have finished licking its political wounds when last Tuesday, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of DAAR Communications (AIT) apparently ruffled some feathers as he gave a graphic account of what he described as several years of his party’s undemocratic conduct in the running of affairs of the country.

*Dokpesi

Dokpesi’s damming revelations may well be compared to the Pandora phenomenon in Greek mythology. According to the account, the gods handed Pandora a large jar or box with clear instructions never to open it for whatever reasons.

But overwhelmed by her curiosity, Pandora  opened the box and inadvertently released into the world, all manner of evils which still plague mankind till date.

There are indications that Dokpesi’s account of internal workings of the PDP especially before the April general elections will continue to dominate discussions from within and outside the party for some time.

But ordinarily, Nigerians would have concluded that Dokpesi’s  proclamation at a press conference in Abuja was official since he spoke in his capacity as Chairman of the organising committee for the  PDP national conference which is expected to draw a road map for re-strategizing the party, ostensibly for a better performance during the next round of general elections in 2019.

But the PDP has since disowned Dokpesi’s statement describing it as his personnel opinion which should not be misconstrued as the party’s official position. In his briefing tagged, “PDP and the Sustenance of Democratic Ideals in Nigeria,” Dokpesi affirmed that the PDP  committed blunders  in the past as he contended further that that the first fundamental mistake  was the party’s jettisoning of the 2011 and 2015  presidential power zoning arrangement.

For such glaring case of misdeed, according to him, Dokpesi virtually went on his knees, on behalf of the party, begging Nigerians to forgive the PDP, “as it stepped on toes while in government for 16 years.”

Incidentally, Dokpesi who was in the vanguard of campaigns for the failed re-election bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan said that contrary to expectations that it  would field a candidate from the north, Dokpesi lamented that party leaders  adopted Jonathan as the sole Presidential candidate, a development which he noted led to the party’s defeat at the polls.

Moreover, as Dokpesi said, the PDP, in the build up to the last general elections, lacked internal democracy, stressing that  there was impunity, imposition of candidates and breach of the zoning arrangement as well as lack of a level playing field for members.

According to Dokpesi, “the PDP is aware that there were errors made along the way. We admit that at certain times in our past, mistakes were  made but we did not meet the expectations of Nigerians. We tender an apology. The PDP had in 2010/2011 made the first fundamental mistake by not allowing the north to complete its term. PDP leaders in 2015 also did not return the ticket to the north.

“But the past is exactly what it is. We call on all party faithful, supporters and sympathisers to partner with us as we move forward. You asked about the mistakes the party made. The Ekweremadu’s report is very explicit on that. It acknowledged the fact that the party made a lot of strides during the last 16 years but that there was no internal democracy and that  there was impunity within the party.

The report also said that there was no level playing ground for members of the party. And, for all these and for the people who have been offended, for  the people whose toes were stepped upon, we tender unreserved apology. While we should not forget the past and its errors, we must look forward and begin to show true leadership within and outside our party.”

Dokpesi not competent to speak for PDP

Hours after his press conference, the PDP  screamed foul, warning that Dokpesi was not competent to speak for the party. According to the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, “that statement made by Chief Raymond Dokpesi is his personal opinion and does not represent in any way the official position of the PDP.

In the first place Dokpesi is not a member of the National Executive Committee of the PDP and he can only speak in his personal capacity and his opinion remains personal and does not represent that of the party.

“The decision to field former President Jonathan in the 2015 presidential race was approved by the National Working Committee (NWC), the National Executive Council (NEC) and the party’s national caucus.  In addition, the Constitution of the party allows a sitting president the chance to exercise his personal right to run for a second term if he so desires.”

Metuh described as impossible, Dokpesi’s claim that the PDP regrets its decision to field Jonathan. He argued that, “how can you regret a decision taken when everyone was there, the NWC, NEC and the national caucus. What are we talking about?  Everybody was aware of the decision, nobody was coerced into supporting the position.”

Also supporting the party, the PDP BoT acting Chairman, Bello Haliru Mohammed,  said the party had no reasons to be apologetic after its 16 years leadership. He argued that the PDP has been vindicated alleging that the APC has failed in its promises to Nigerians.

As Mohammed put it, “we must remember also that the fact that we lost an election does not mean that all our policies were wrong. The PDP has achieved a lot and it stabilized democracy in Nigeria for the past 16 years, through the promotion of free press. Democracy has significantly flourished in the country under our party.

We fully expanded the democratic space by promoting radical electoral reforms under a truly Independent National Electoral Commission. We registered more political parties including the APC. We recorded sucessful civilian transfer of power, PDP to PDP, and after we lost the last electionS, we handed over power in good faith to the opposition, without any acrinomy whatsover. Some of our achievements are the standards by which our contributions to nation building should be measured.”

Don’t drag Jonathan into your discussions

Also commenting on the issue, another PDP BoT member, Alhaji Shauibu Oyedokun, described Dokpesi’s statement as “too general,” saying that he should have left Jonathan out of his discussions. He said, “people are looking at the disagreement from two perspectives. Dokpesi’s statement is too general and broad.

We might have made some mistakes but the government then did well. I believe that the older ones should leave the stage for the younger ones but there must be consultations before statements are made. Dokpesi made a statement, the party corrected him.”