Dr Chris Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom state, has blamed the weakness of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) for the behaviour of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who threatened to ignite crises in states under PDP governors.
The PDP chieftain who spoke with journalists in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital, argued that Wike would not have dared behave that way under the old PDP, which was stronger.
Ekpenyong said, “Asking me about a very young man who, peradventure came to be initiated into a political party and grew from the ranks of being the chairman of a local government through the instrumentality of his boss – Dr Peter Odili – and become what whatever he became.
“He now says he wants to fight the stem; you know everything has a stem. I will not take issues with him, but I think what he is taking advantage of is because our party has deviated from what it was supposed to be – the vision and mission of its founding fathers; otherwise, you will not see anyone who became a governor of the PDP now becoming taller than the party; it would not have been, but I am yet to see how he will fight.
“That will be a surprise to say whether the PDP is alive. The PDP has gone into a cocoon, it’s yet to be revived and he thinks he has the oxygen to fight but I think he does not.”
Ekpenyong lamented that the PDP had collapsed because it had allowed itself to be swallowed by state governors.
According to the ex-deputy governor, lack of fairness and leadership imposition led to the weakening of the PDP.
He said, “The PDP is a national party where in every nook and cranny of Nigeria you find it there, and it was a party that was predicated on social justice and fairness and that means you cannot just hand-pick, you must go through a process, and you must be the people’s desire. It was not a party of imposition, a party where you are a governor and you become a tin god, but today, the PDP has been swallowed by governors and the leadership no longer comes from the people.”
