Segun Showunmi
We lost a rerun election in Ijebu-Ode/Odogbolu/Ijebu-North East Federal Constituency. I wish to commend the gallantry of our flag bearer, Taiwo Shote. But I would also say this calls for sober reflections on the way forward.
There is no pretending that, for some time, our strongholds have been Ogun East and to a lesser extent, Ogun West, while Ogun Central has been our weakest link since 2011. Until the 2019 results came in, we could have assumed that it was not easy to defeat PDP in Ogun East. But we can no longer say that because we have lost woefully. However, have we been defeated by APC? No, we have been defeated by ourselves and our unabated internal crisis that has defied logic.
We have taken our destructive and extremely expensive struggle for control to the most ridiculous level where we now need to ask: what is to be gained in all this? Losing, or winning elections is no big deal. The big issue is not giving oneself a fighting chance. I doubt if all those who profess to be PDP had seen the rerun election as necessary win we could have lost.
Political Party Power must be shared for all persons to have a sense of commitment to a joint struggle. We must learn from our opponents – the APC – who never allow infighting to becloud them once it is time for elections. Sometimes, I wonder if we have the moral justification to be annoyed with some of our people who jump ship, even though a few of them have made themselves perennial jumping jacks. But should we not agonize when we lose quality persons because of a crisis that we can solve by ourselves?
We are doing great damage to political party stability and causing ourselves election losses. A political party must not reduce itself to a platform that cannot accommodate groups and still work towards the same objectives. Why must anti-party activities continue this way?
Soon, there will be congresses. But this time, I want to plead that we come under one umbrella and let executives emerge according to popularity and strength at the grassroots. May ‘common’ sense prevail.
