Prince Laja Adeoye, a Lagos State PDP Chieftain, says former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s involvement in African Democratic Party(ADC) at a time when the Peoples Democratic Party
By Adeyemi Adeleye
Prince Laja Adeoye, a Lagos State PDP Chieftain, says former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s involvement in African Democratic Party(ADC) at a time when the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP )is working hard to reposition itself for victory in 2027 is disappointing.
Adeoye, a House of Representatives hopeful in Oshodi-Isolo Federal Constituency, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
The PDP chieftain said Abubakar should have demonstrated good leadership by resigning from the party before joining ADC with other political leaders in his opposition coalition.
NAN reports that the Abubakar-led National Coalition of Political Opposition Movement with some aggrieved APC leaders on Tuesday adopted the ADC as a platform to unseat Tinubu in 2027.
“For a political leader like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to publicly come out to display and wear the cap of ADC when we have not heard that he had left PDP does not show moral and sincere leadership.
“Atiku should have taken the same step as Rotimi Amaechi, Nasir El-Rufai, Malami and other APC leaders in the coalition, who had officially resigned from the ruling party to join the ADC adopted by the coalition.
“Atiku action does not show good leadership, “he said.
The PDP chieftain, who noted that he was not against coalition or any platform to actualise any political ambition, said that morality demanded that Abubakar resolve the crises in PDP rather than leave.
“Why are they promoting a political party while still in PDP? It means they are not sure about the future of that new party and they don’t want to take risks,” he said.
He described President Bola Tinubu as a committed party man ,who would never abandon the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the face of challenges,
Adeoye added that Atiku should have displayed same loyalty to the party that offered him the platform to emerge as Vice President.
“If you claim you want to rescue Nigeria and fail to resolve issues in your political party that is just a tiny fraction of Nigeria, it shows the level of your commitment.
“How do you solve the multi-complex, multi-ethnic and multi interest problems of Nigeria?
“For me, Atiku and others in the coalition must first show examples; leaders in PDP must work to ensure peace and unity. You don’t abandon the ship and run away.”
According to him, Abubakar, at some points, abandoned PDP for Action Congress (AC), then came back to PDP before eventually joining APC in 2014 .
Adeoye said Atiku’s movement to ADC after his party-toparty political voyages does not portray him as a committed and consistent leader.
“This is not leadership. Leadership is all about consistency and building consensus not jumping from one place to another,” he said.
On the prospect of the coalition in 2027,the PDP chieftain said the alliance was bound to collapse,predicting the adopted party would explode from leadership crisis and legal battles before the next election.
“When people are building a house not on truth and honesty, it is bound to collapse. A lot of crises will emerge . They are not coming together in order to rescue Nigeria,”he said.
Adeoye said he did not see the coalition performing any magic in 2027 as it lacked the structure to spring a surprise.
“How many sitting governors are going with the coalition?Governors control the party structure in their respective states.Is there any governor going with them?
“This is not how APC formed a coalition in 2014. They had governors and National Assembly members. All they did was launch a very aggressive campaign to remove PDP .
“This is not how APC did it, they had states they were controlling already and people that had structures and strength. They didn’t start from ground zero.
” The coalition is bound to fail as it does not have all of these ,” he said.
On PDP’s chances in 2027, Adeoye said that the former ruling party still remained very strong with firm structures across all wards and local government areas in the country.
He said: “Coalition or no coalition will not have any major effect on PDP.
“PDP still remains the strongest opposition party in terms of structure and people. Atiku Abubakar can only take a fraction of PDP away. It is the results that will tell.
“PDP is going to come back stronger.We will have our National Convention before December, which will produce a brand new National Working Committee and a whole lot of structural and leadership changes from wards to the national level.” (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)