PRESIDENTIAL hopeful and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has canvassed the sustenance of the supremacy of the internal Constitution of the party as the panacea to its continued existence.
Olawepo-Hashim, one of the founding fathers of the party said yesterday in a live television (AIT) program, ‘Democracy Today’, that the PDP remained the only truly democratic political party in Nigeria, that an individual or a group could pocket or control without contravening the internal mechanisms of the party.
He alluded to the Presidential Primaries of the party since the advent of the Fourth Republic, in 1999 and described it as the most competitive and best organized after the order of advanced democracies the world over.
He said, “the PDP’s long standing tradition of competitive primaries and respect for its constitution distinguishes it from every other political organization in the country. Even as a sitting president in 2003, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had to submit himself to a hotly contested primary election in his bid for re-election, facing strong challengers such as Barnabas Gemade, Abubakar Rimi, and Alex Ekwueme, aspirants drawn from both the North and the South.
He added; “this mirrored the 1999 PDP presidential primary, which was also vigorously contested by candidates across the country. PDP is the only democratic party in Nigeria that nobody or group can pocket. The party has always maintained an open space for competition, and that is why it has survived over two decades in a very difficult political environment.”
For Olawepo-Hashim, “this tradition of internal democracy has kept the PDP vibrant and made it a consistent platform for leaders committed to constitutionalism, the rule of law, and national unity.”
He contrasted this with the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the ruling party neither debates issues internally nor holds regular meetings, and therefore lacks the capacity for collective problem solving.
“A party that discusses issues like PDP has a greater tendency to address Nigeria’s challenges than APC. Despite PDP’s own challenges, its achievements remain unmatched. APC has dragged the country backwards, and its rigid, top-down style is cast in iron, a sure recipe for stagnation,” he said.
He urged PDP members and Nigerians at large to defend and preserve the party’s democratic values, warning that replacing open competition with imposition would erode the PDP’s uniqueness and weaken Nigeria’s democratic progress.