Polls: PDP chieftains demand Mu’azu’s resignation

As part of the fallout of the Peoples Democratic Party’s failure at the last general elections, top party men are calling for the resignation or removal of the party’s National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu.

PDP stalwarts who spoke with SUNDAY PUNCH said it behoves on Mua’zu to turn in his resignation letter even without since he had been unable to take the party to victory.

The PDP not only lost the presidential election to the opposition, All Progressives Congress, it also lost its National Assembly majority status and governorship seats including state Houses of assembly.

But the embattled national chairman, Mu’azu, has said he would not resign despite the loss of the party he leads.

Mu’azu said it was also wrong for anyone to call for the sacking of any member of the party’s National Working Committee because of what happened to the ruling party during the elections.

PDP chieftains including a former National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Edet Nkpubre, former Senior Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Affairs, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, state chairmen and stakeholders who spoke with SUNDAY PUNCH, have demanded for the ouster of Mu’azu.

Nkpubre, who said this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Saturday, said Mu’azu should resign as the party chairman.

The former national vice-chairman, who is from Akwa Ibom State, said, “If you led a nation to a war, and you failed, you should resign. Mu’azu should resign. He allowed the PDP Governors’ Forum to take over the party. The chairman of that forum was virtually directing the party and imposing his will and the will of the so-called governors on the President through the party.”

Nkpubre the PDP governors’ forum should be disbanded, adding that unpopular candidates were imposed on the party

He stated, “The PDP should be reorganised and you cannot reorganise that party with Mua’zu still there. I predicted that there would be protest votes and that is what is happening today. Jonathan lost because many people were aggrieved. Governors were given unlimited powers and they trample on everybody.

“They imposed candidates from state house to the House of Representatives and the Senate as well as their successors.”

Gulak also told SUNDAY PUNCH in an interview: “There is no party chairman of the PDP since 1998 that has led the party to such a disastrous outing. As a result, the national chairman should consider himself one of those that have to give way for the new party to come up. In fact, he doesn’t need to be told to turn in his resignation.”

A chieftain of the party and governorship aspirant in Ogun State, Mr. Kayode Amusan, also added his voice to the removal of Mua’zu.

Amusan, a former member of the House of Representatives, said with the poor performance of the PDP in the last general elections, the most honourable thing for Muazu to do is to resgin.

He said, “Look at performance of the party in the whole of the North. He is a chairman that cannot deliver his state. He should cover his face with his hands and resign.”

Similarly, the Ogun State PDP chairman, Mr. Adebayo Dayo, said in some other climes when a political party suffered such a defeat that PDP suffered in the recent general elections, the leadership of the party should be considering the option of resigning.

Dayo, did not exonerate himself, but said at the state level, the executive council tried its best for the party.

He said, “I am not aware of the call for he resignation of the national chairman of the party, Adamu Mu’azu, but it must noted that in any good clime where a political party suffered such a defeat as we witnessed in our party, the leadership should think about resigning. Even including myself.”

But Mua’zu, speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Tony Amadi in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Saturday, said rather than quit, he was going to stay behind and reform the troubled party.

He accused those who had defected from the PDP to the APC of being impatient, wondering where they were when members of the opposition were building the party.

Amadi said, “Those who are asking him to resign, why are they not asking the President to resign immediately he lost election? The chairman will stay back, serve his tern and rebuild the party.”

He denied the allegation of imposition in the party, saying many of those making the allegation were not popular in their wards.

He vowed that the PDP would remain a formidable opposition “but will not fight dirty.”

But one of the founders and PDP chieftain in Oro Federal Constituency, Akwa Ibom State, Sylvester Akaiso, said Muazu has failed the party.

According to him, prior to elections, there had been complaints about imposition. He added that instead of Mu’azu addressing the issue, he waved it aside as the party’s affairs.

He said it was the imposition that gave birth to people defecting from the party which ultimately resulted in the PDP’s misfortune in the last elections.

A former governorship aspirant of the party in Kwara State during the just concluded governorship elections, Mr. John Dara also said Mu’azu should resign owing to the poor performance of the PDP at the just concluded polls.

Dara said Mu’azu should resign as he presided over the party’s conduct in an election in which a sitting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was defeated.

He also said Mu’azu should not be the only PDP leader to resign or leave his office, he added that the Board of Trustees and the National Executive Committee of the party should be dissolved while the party should be reorganised.

Dara described Mu’azu’ tenure as disastrous.

Dara said, “I believe that reasonable thing for Mu’azu to do is to resign. When you preside over a project and it turns into this kind of calamity, it will be honourable to resign. If he does not want history to judge him as someone who killed or contributed to the destruction of the PDP, I think he should just go and show that he accepts responsibility for what has happened.”

Copyright PUNCH.