Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja
The Founder of Daar Communications Limited, operators of AIT/Ray Power 100.5 FM, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, has warned governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP )and other leaders of the party against imposition of candidates, ahead of the party’s national convention scheduled for Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Dopkesi, who is one of the national chairmanship candidates of the party, stated this in Abuja during an interactive session with journalists.
Stating that the party is in crisis today because its leaders started moving away from the ideals of its founding fathers, the chieftain asked the governors to break away from past culture of impunity.
“I want us to just hope and pray that the governors, who spoke out very clearly after the Ali Modu-Sheriff episode – that they had learnt their lessons and they will allow the party to take or make its own decision, will keep to their promises,’’ he stated.
“And I believe them, even when I have seen some departure from that. I have seen some departure from that and I am not naive to believe that I should take their words hook line and sinker, as it will appear; but I want to hope Nigerians are watching.’’
He said nobody owns the PDP, saying it belongs to everybody.
Dopkesi added: ‘’The consequence of not allowing internal democracy to prevail in the PDP is the fact that the party will break; the party will disappear into oblivion. So, if the PDP does not reform now, it will not survive the current crisis.’’
Responding to a question about on-going efforts by the PDP governors to shop for a neutral national chairman, who will be acceptable to all party members, Dopkesi said that he does not belong to any faction.
According to him, “I am not even aware of any faction in the PDP. I know there is a central PDP’; I know there were disagreements over the processes of selecting an acting national chairman of the party and I am aware of that fact, prior to the main convention.
“A good majority of the party members had believed that once the NEC approved that the presidency should go to the north, a memorandum will be presented to the convention – that the presidency should go to the north, and that by PDP’s tradition, the chairmanship should go to the south, and you cannot change that.
“It is part of the impunity we are talking about — that a group of persons will get up and say they want to change the resolution of the party’s NEC. PDP is not their personal property. If you are able to market it across, and members of the party agree and say yes, that is fine.’’
