Chief Raymond Dokpesi
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Tuesday, November 10,
admitted that fielding ex President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole candidate for
the May 29 presidential election was an error on its path. Addressing reporters at a media parley in Abuja, the Chairman
of the party’s National Conference Organising Committee, Chief Raymond Dokpesi,
said the PDP ought to have stuck to its zoning arrangement, adding that the
fundamental mistake the party made was the breach of its power shift pact in
2011.
According to him, when President Umaru Musa Ya’Adua died in
office, the party should have allowed somebody from the North to complete his
tenure, instead of settling for Jonathan from the South as its presidential
candidate in 2011.
Dokpesi also argued that when it was expected that the party
would field a northern candidate for the March 2015 election, but party leaders
unanimously adopted Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate, a decision he
said led to the party’s defeat at the elections.
He also explained that the party, in the build up to the
last general election, failed to uphold internal democracy, adding that there
was impunity, imposition of candidates, breach of the zoning arrangement, and
the absence of a level playing field for members.
“Make no mistake, the PDP is aware that there were errors made along the way. We admit that at certain times in our past, mistakes have been made; we did not meet the expectations of Nigerians." he stressed.
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