Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, a founding member of the People Democratic Party (PDP), has shed light on the persistent crisis plaguing the party in a recent interview with The Sun.
Addressing concerns over the party's inability to achieve internal peace, Oyedokun emphasized the need to confront the reality of the situation rather than turning a blind eye to ongoing challenges.
According to Oyedokun, the PDP's troubles escalated following the 2023 presidential election, signaling a period of turmoil for the party. However, he commended the National Working Committee (NWC) for taking proactive steps to address the crisis by engaging constitutional organs such as the Caucus, Board of Trustees (BOT), and the National Executive Committee (NEC) for evaluation on April 18.
He stated, “Except we want to deceive ourselves, we cannot continue to pretend as if nothing is happening in the party. Otherwise, we will continue to suffer in silence. Our party took ill immediately after the 2023 presidential election, but fortunately the National Working Committee eventually took it to our constitutional organs (Caucus, BOT and the NEC) on the 18th of April for evaluation. Interim measures have been taken.”
Despite facing criticisms and internal rivalries, Oyedokun applauded the resilience of the NWC in managing the complexities of party politics, acknowledging the difficulty of navigating contending forces within the party structure. He expressed admiration for the NWC's ability to persevere despite facing significant challenges, attributing their efforts to the interim measures taken to address the party's longstanding issues.
“This goes to the credit of the NWC. In spite of all insinuations and harassments, I will score them high because party politics is not easy to manage. There are contending forces working on the National Working Committee. There are lots of rivalries and criticisms. And for a body that has been beheaded and still managed to struggle till 18th of April, deserves commendation. Our problem is not a fresh problem,” he said.