Mbadinuju whips PDP , explains problem with PDP

www.odogwublog.com reports that the former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju recently defected from the Peo­ples Democratic Party(PDP)

to the All Progressives Congress(APC). He speaks on his grouse with the PDP and his reasons for defecting.

Why did you leave PDP at this time?

Leaving PDP is a painful but necessary ac­tion that I had to take. It is painful because, as a founding member of the PDP in 1998 who toiled hard to ensure that it gained the accep­tance of the majority of our people, I had very high hopes for the party. Given my enormous contributions, I became the first, elected PDP governor of Anambra state. In this capacity, I was privileged to lead the Anambra State delegation to the Jos national convention for the nomination of the party’s first presidential candidate.

My role in galvanizing support for our son, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, a former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to clinch the presidential ticket was well acknowledged by all. It was a hurting experience for me person­ally that he did not secure the ticket at that his­toric convention. That loss in Jos represented the first major blow to our eforts at producing a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction. But we take solace that Ekwueme accepted defeat with equanimity. That is why it is painful to withdraw one’s membership of the party that gave one such opportunity to serve and to advance one’s carrier.

What was the rationale for choosing APC?

The APC has proven itself as a promising party of the present and future. We can all see glaringly that everything good about the PDP has since vanished.

I first got to know the presidential candidate of the APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari when I launched my book in 2012. Through a mutual friend, I simply sent him an invitation letter to attend the ceremony, and he attended at his expense. In fact, he drove from Kaduna to Abuja and sat at the ante-room even before many arrived the venue. That created a posi­tive impression of him in my mind. It shows a trait of excellent leadership quality in the man. And now, having forced by injustice to leave the PDP, I thought the best place to be is where Buhari is. So, before I took this present step, I had the privilege to meet and inform him. I had a short but in-depth discussion with him one-on-one, and I can confidently say that Buhari is a great man. The things going for him are his humility and accessibility to people, punctuality to time and responsive­ness to issues. He demonstrated these to me personally. He is the kind of leader Nigeria needs today.

As for membership in my new party, I assure those who laboured hard to form the party that I will do all that is possible to help move forward. I salute your foresight, your courage and your perseverance, and I pledge to cooperate with all to ensure victory of the APC in the forth-coming elections. I have withdrawn my membership of the PDP and registered my membership into the APC. I am also giving my unflinching support to the candidacy of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari for the office of President, Federal Republic of Nigeria and all APC candidates in Anambra State and across the entire country.

What were the things you did for the PDP that you say was ignored by the party?

In spite of the fact that as the governor of Anambra State, I did my utmost best to im­prove the lot of our people in a space of four years, against a tremendous but utterly need­less opposition by members of the party in the state, in collaboration with the presidency in Abuja. I was the only serving governor that the PDP unjustly denied its ticket for a second term. All Anambrarians will bear me witness that in 2003, three times the PDP from Abuja conducted the governorship primaries; three times I won those primaries, and three times PDP in Abuja cancelled the primaries. At the end of the day, I was denied the party ticket. The PDP took no recognition of both my person and my status.

The party behaved as if it never wronged me nor wronged the vast population of Anambrarians whose lives I have touched while superintending the state as governor. Together with our supporters we were ignored, and the government at the center operated, and still operates, as if PDP members have never existed in Anambra state. Whosoever the government patronized, turned out to be dishonest, or be turned into a mediocre; thus making dishonesty and mediocrity take the center-stage of government and politics in the country. We painfully endured it for long, hop­ing that with leadership change things would also change. But from Obasanjo, to Yar’adua and to Jonathan nothing changed.

Did you at any time try to reach out to President Jonathan?

During the 2011 campaign, my team and some South-South states worked hard to assist President Jonathan win the election. President Jonathan has spent years in office, and in these years, I sent him about 10 memos on vital issues of governance, but not once did the President give me an opportunity to see him nor responded to any of my memos.

The various party national leaderships have failed to administer to reconcile, restructure and reform the party in the state notwithstand­ing the vast majority of Anambra people being PDP supporters, and committed to working with the party’s national leadership to rebuild the party and entrench democracy and good governance in the state. It is on record that I tried all within my power, along with a number of well-meaning PDP members in the state, to achieve this noble objective through the entrenchment of internal and participatory democracy. But all our efforts were rebuffed as people of questionable characters were allowed free hands to do with the party accord­ing to their whims and caprices. Ethics and values were thrown to the dogs. PDP became an unjust and unfair political party; with no truth in its mouth; no compassion in its heart; no sincerity in its purpose and actions. It was always intrinsically self-serving and deceitful. Most honest members became disillusioned and disappointed with this turn of events.

What do you think is the view of the national chairman of the PDP on the issue?

It was this poor state of affairs that prompted the PDP National Chairman who recently made it clear he would no longer live in a system of “use and dump” syndrome which smacks of indiscipline, injustice and corrup­tion.

Obviously, things cannot continue like that, lest the society collapses. It is therefore, the responsibility, nay the duty, of all God-fearing citizens and men of good standing in our country to do something so as to get us out of the present state. As the famous philosopher, Edmund Burke once said, “evil thrives when good men do nothing”. I believe that and therefore, we cannot continue to sit by and do nothing when all around us, things are falling apart. This, we must not accept; and in order to give Anambra state and our country a new lease of life and a sense of direction.

INTERVIEW BY CHINELO OBOGOOF THE SUN