The Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was bigger than any single individual, and that the party’s internal challenges would be fixed once the members resolve to tackle them.
Speaking to journalists at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja on Thursday, after the inauguration of the party’s South-South zonal caretaker committee led by Elder Emma Ogidi, the governor said the political will to confront those fomenting trouble in the party resides with the members and not solely on the PDP national leadership.
Gov. Diri, who is also chairman of the South-South Governors Forum, stated that for the party to be competitive as the oldest in the country, it must look inwards and fix its internal issues.
He said: “For me, we have to look inwards before accusing those outside our party. We have to first fix our internal issues.
“It is very easy to point accusing fingers. But, the PDP has to sit back and tackle its internal challenges. That is only when we can stand to compete with others.
“I want the PDP to be competitive with other political parties. We are the oldest political party in Nigeria. So we have no reason to be accusing outsiders.”
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On whether the party’s leadership has the political will to discipline those fomenting trouble, Gov. Diri averred that the political will resides with the members.
“We are all members of the party. The moment we all resolve that we need to fix our party, there cannot be any one person that is bigger than the party,” the governor added.
He stressed that the newly inaugurated zonal caretaker committee has the mandate of the National Working Committee to look into every issue affecting the party in the South-South.
Expressing the hope that the event will be a step forward for the party, the governor said “in our zone, which is the only area in the country where you have four governors of the party, we have all resolved and are together on this.
“You can see the deputy governor of Delta State, who represented the governor. I have also received messages from the governors of Akwa Ibom and Rivers.
“It shows that we are together, and what we need to do is to show leadership, and work with the zonal committee so that our zone will again become safe and strong for the PDP.”
