PDP crisis: Party chieftain urges Jonathan to take control

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Victor Akande, has urged former President Goodluck Jonathan to take leadership position in the party to stem the crisis rocking the party.
Akande, who is also a lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Sunday.
Akande, also legal practitioner, said: “It is a pity my party, PDP, has not got its house together and it has not really harmonised all problems in order to forge ahead.
“Things have fallen apart, the centre cannot hold.
“There is only one solution to our problems and the solution is that former President Goodluck Jonathan should come out of his cocoon and put the party aright.
“If Jonathan has come forth to lead the party in the right perspective and take over the mantle of leadership, our story would have been different by now.”
According to Akande, by the virtue of PDP constitution, the former president is supposed to be the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, which is the highest decision-making body of the party.
Akande, who is also the Chairman, House Committee of Central Business District, said that every member was clamouring for power in the party because there was no one to lead the party.
He said: “Anywhere there is no leadership, anarchy and struggle for leadership, as it is bedeviling the party, will be the situation.
“I challenge President Jonathan to come forward and give the direction.
“Everybody will fall in line.
“Having risen to the peak on the platform of the party, he has the responsibility to nurture the party and prevent it from dying.
“There are some cabals who are hell bent on killing the party, only Jonathan can make the party survive.
“If we don’t want people to decamp again from the party, there must be somebody to give a sense of direction. A commander cannot sit back and be commanding.
“Someone who has benefitted from the party cannot allow that party to die. He must come forward, I am challenging him.”
Akande, who said that the crises in the party were not unexpected, stated: “PDP is learning through the rope.”
He said that the poor performances of the party in recent elections after defeat in 2015 general election were by-products of lack of leadership.
The lawmaker, however, expressed optimism that the party would come out strong from its present predicaments.