Present NWC can’t win elections for PDP – Senator

Immediate past chairman of the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters, Senator Aloysius Etok, says the Peoples Democratic Party cannot win the 2019 general elections with the present crop of National Working Committee members and national executive officers.

 

He said majority of the party members had lost confidence in the present crop of national officers and the leadership of some state chapters.

Etok, who represented Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District in the National Assembly from 2007 to 2015, said this in Calabar during an interaction with our correspondent on Friday.

He said it was not likely that the party would make any meaningful impact in the 2019 elections if the present crop of officials still hung on to power.

Etok said, “The possibility of self regeneration of the party cannot happen with the present calibre of national officers that we have. Those people have lost the confidence of the majority of party members and Nigerians. The entire National Working Committee members must leave, they are cancerous. Some state executive members must also be asked to go.

“You cannot have people with impunity forcing themselves to remain in the system just as the NWC is doing. They are the reason for the woeful failure of the party in the last election. Some state governors also contributed to the failure too. If we get rid of them, people will re-establish confidence.”

The senator noted that it is unfortunate that those who occupy leadership positions were finding it difficult to leave when their services were no longer required.

Etok advised those in the current positions of authority in the party at the national level to quit so that the majority could have their say in the running of affairs.

He said while majority of the party members saw the change coming, those at the leadership position refused to see it.

“We saw this era of change coming. A good leader must first be a good servant. It is only a bad leader that becomes a monster. We have a lot of people who have towed the line of dishonour and they are still clinging on to power.

“We are whispering to them to follow the path of honour by leaving NWC so that we can rebuild the party,” he added.