A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Segun Sowunmi, on Wednesday accused President Bola Tinubu of being the main problem of the opposition party. The party chieftain faulted the appointment of former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, as FCT Minister, adding that Tinubu had no business selecting Wike as a member of his cabinet.
Sowunmi also said the opposition party, despite its current predicament, is far more mature in handling governance issues than the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He disagreed with opinions that suggested that the PDP is doing so badly in playing its role as an opposition party, while he also queried the opinion that the PDP is performing poorly as an opposition party.
People cannot expect the PDP to play opposition in a way that would demarket Nigeria, he said, criticizing the APC’s oppositional strategy pre-2015.
“Do you think that nonsense they (APC) were doing—calling people into the streets every day, shaming the country, running up and down the place, demarketing the country, refusing Jonathan to buy arms to fight insecurity—is how to run a country? We (PDP) are far more mature than them because we understand what it means to protect the territorial integrity and the brand equity of Nigeria; that is why we don’t go out of the way to go and demarket the country like they were doing,” Sowunmi said.
He stated that having a different opinion from the ruling party’s policies, as the PDP does, is what it means to be playing opposition. He insisted that playing opposition should not entail spreading false information about the nation and making it unmanageable.
Despite the PDP’s present leadership crisis, Sowunmi, one of the candidates vying for the party’s national chairmanship, maintains that the party will endure.
“PDP, is this PDP that; who killed it? A party that did not die when Obasanjo tore his card, a party that did not die when Jonathan stood down, a party that did not die all these years is going to die; PDP dieth not,” Sowunmi exclaimed. “Tinubu is the problem” he stated.
He said that when President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to form a government of national unity, he consulted widely, which he said Tinubu failed to do, which has caused division in the opposition party.
He clarified that Tinubu would send Wike back to the opposition party if he wanted the PDP to experience peace.
Sowunmi asserts that the PDP can overcome the problem and position itself for power, even though it was facing certain challenges.
He said the party is neither dead nor sick, arguing that the PDP is struggling with democracy.
“We have not gotten to a stage whereby we will say we have gotten a new set of executives. There are complications as to where Wike stands since he is a minister in the APC government, and he is still in the PDP.
“These are consequences that will have to be managed. But I take very strong objections to the fact that you are explaining that the party is dead,” he added.
