PDP Has Outlived Usefulness In The South– Hon Edeoga

The Peoples Democratic Party has outlived its usefulness in the South for not zoning its presidential candidate to the zone, Hon Chijioke Edeoga, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu State, said Thursday.

Hon Edeoga stated this while appearing on a political programme of Energy 105.5fm, Enugu.

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According to him, the failure of the party to zone its presidential ticket to South killed the principle of the founding fathers of the PDP.

He said, “It is one of the reasons why I said that the PDP has outlived its usefulness as far Igbo people are concerned. PDP destroyed one of its foundational reasons of a unifying party. PDP was put together by Dr Alex Ekwueme essentially, working with other national leaders like Adamu Ciroma and Bamanga Tukur, to midwife a new Nigeria arising from the zoning principles of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN.”

He said it was the failure of the party to zone presidential ticket to the South, and worst still, not making a South-easterner its vice-presidential candidate that informed his joining the Labour Party.

He said although he initially declared to support the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Barr Peter Mba, whom he contested against, he later changed his mind.

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Quoting him, “The PDP guber primary in the state was not in agreement with the popular will. Once in a while, one changes one’s mind or reflect. It is only a tree or inanimate objects that would remain standstill. The turning point to me really is the injustice meted to the South by the PDP. I am a founding member of the PDP in Enugu State.

“I know what PDP stands for. I know what fired Alex Ekwueme in the formation of the PDP. I was there with him in the All Politicians’ Conference at Eko Hotel in Lagos. I was with him at the Modotel about early 1999. Igbos agreed on NPF as a platform to enter the PDP. I know those who walked away, and went on to merge with the APP.”

He said he had expected the PDP vice-presidential candidate to emerge from South East, and made up his mind to leave the party when that was not accomplished.

In his words, “PDP presidential primary held after our guber primaries. Even after the presidential primary and Atiku Abubakar had not chosen a vice-presidential candidate, I was waiting to see if a remedial action would be taken by the leadership of the PDP. Once it didn’t happen [emergence of an Igbo VP], my spirit was touched.

“About two or three years ago, I had discussions with close friends of mine who were my colleagues in the House of Reps. I told them that there was no way I was going to support northern-to-northern transmission of power. It was indeed a turning point to me when the entire South-Eastern Nigeria was not considered. There was no longer any point for me remaining in the party.”

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Edeoga was once council chairman of Isi-Uzo LGA, member, House of Reps; a legislative aide to former president Goodluck Jonathan, and also a commissioner under Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.

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