Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South East, Barrister Steve Orurua, has stated that despite postulations made by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme on how PDP would survive in 1999, he was denied the presidential ticket of the party.
Orurua stated this while speaking with LEADERSHIP Weekend in Enugu on the crisis rocking the PDP and on the need for the party to embrace justice and equity while sharing positions.
Going down memory lane, Orurua pointed out that the former vice president was the champion of rotation among zones, adding that he gave postulations as to how the party would survive.
“I have said it repeatedly that the party goofed in the process of the selection made as the flagbearer of the party in the 2023 election given the fact that in 1999, the Southeast played a pivotal role in the making of a certain president called Olusegun Obasanjo.
“Given the fact that Ekwueme has also given postulations as to how the party will survive, taking about zones, sharing power, given the fact that he was the champion of the process, one had envisaged that he will be the candidate,” he stated.
Orurua, however, stressed that despite the decision by the leadership of the party to give the ticket to somebody from the Yoruba nation to appease them over the 1992 election, the Southeast still played along and continued to support the PDP.
He continued that even when the party gave the presidential ticket to a northerner, the Southeast continued to support the party.
He further stressed that even when the party zoned it to the South-South, the Southeast gave maximum support to the president then and the PDP.
Orurua therefore averred that he believed that Southeast presidency would be the beginning of nationhood, saying there was need to try a new option since others have failed.
On his new role, Orurua said it was not a tool to wage war but to sensitise people who do not really know when they go against the Constitution of the party.
He described the power of incumbency as a strong factor in the Nigerian politics, saying for opposition parties to dislodge it, they must have credible candidates.
He also advised the PDP to respect the decision of the Southeast Zone of the party on their choice for the national secretary.
