Leadership Is PDP’s Problem – Ologbondiyan

Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Ologbondiyan, has said the main opposition party’s problem is leadership.

Kola Ologbondiyan said PDP faces serious challenges that cannot be ignored. He added that the party is held down by certain internal forces.

Ologbondiyan said this in an interview with Independent Nigeria. He said there was need to rejig the part’s leadership for effective opposition.

“The party is facing serious challenges and that is the obvious truth. This is the obvious truth we cannot run away from.

“I think the party is being held down by certain forces and it is being denied the chance to propagate as it ought to have been. But I think the contending forces within the PDP are the problems of the party today.

“We have said it openly that we need to rejig the party in a manner that it can serve the purpose for which it was formed,” Ologbondiya said.

The Peoples Democratic Party chieftain said the founding fathers of the party have to intervene. Ologbondiyan said Nigeria would be a one-party state if PDP did not take up its opposition role to give opposing voice to governance issues in the country.

“At this moment I want to call the leaders of the PDP, particularly the founders who are still here with us, whether you have left the party or not or whether you have retired from politics because I do not expect them to stay away at this moment, to intervene because they laboured during the military system to come this far with the party.

“We can recall what they went through to bring the PDP alive. So it’s not just a party that any individual, no matter how highly placed, should just come and destroy and then walk away.

“I think everyone has a responsibility in this regard, particularly if they understand the danger of having a one-party system.

“We should have an opportunity to say look we were in government and we were going it this way or that way but when we lose such a voice as the opposition, then it becomes a problem. I think this is the time for the founders and leaders of the PDP to do something urgently,” he added.

The former PDP National Publicity Secretary added that the only voice of opposition heard is the voice of the current National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba. He added that PDP was not in state of comatose but needed to be rescued.

“We need to rescue the party from those pretending to have its interest at heart and it boils down to the leadership of the party,” he said.