By
Hon. Rahman Owokoniran
Setting the records straight on a clarion call to Lagos State PDP is an expression of desperation by those who have held the state hostage for decades.
I read the rejoinder to my recent article on the state of Lagos PDP, which the faceless writers titled, “Setting the Records Straight.” This group of persons, who call themselves the Concerned Lagos PDP Patriots Forum, left me greatly amused by their recourse to going personal and abusive.
Interestingly, the rejoinder failed to set the records straight and resorted to arguing ad hominem and leaving the meat of the matter. All I could read was an attack on my person. This is to be expected and doesn’t take away the facts surrounding the constant defeat of the PDP at the polls election year after election year.
Nowhere have I mentioned names or targeted any particular group of individuals responsible for the Lagos debacle. Neither did I exonerate myself from being responsible nor made excuses for myself. I simply shared my thoughts about the situation in which PDP members, including myself, have found ourselves. I postulated that we should change our ways of doing things. Also, I emphasised that we could not continue to do things the same way and expect different results; and, as an institution, we needed to be dynamic or else we would be grounded, mindful of the Labour Party, LP’s ascendancy in Lagos State as a case study in the last election.
Who would have thought that someone or a group would have been so desperate and touchy about a public enterprise being offered genuine advice? This, for me, is a wakeup call to not only the PDP members to get out of this stranglehold, but also the people of Lagos to ensure that these pretenders are exposed. As for all their lies about me, I will urge them to fact-check everything they said out of their desperation to shoot down the messenger.
They are notoriously known for hounding decent people to chase them away from the truth so that they can get away with murder. They created a false alternative leadership structure to hoodwink the party and create roadblocks for the party to thrive in the elections.
Political parties are not owned by anyone, even when honorary titles are given to them. The titles are meant for recognition and respect for previous roles played in the party. It doesn’t confer ownership of the party on such titleholders. Leaders and members will come and go, leaving their footprints on the party. Democracy is about public participation and the people have the right to choose what they want. Not one man or a group of individuals under any disguise should lay a stranglehold on the party.
One would expect that the article would serve as an awakening of consciousness on our part in Lagos PDP, a call to action; but contrary to this, it has been taken over by twisted minds to peddle falsehood.
Isn’t it rather interesting that some persons will claim that they are responsible for the ‘revival’ of my political career, knowing full well that promotion comes from God? Of what use is a leadership that is not ready to listen to critical thinking? Should we not be able to tell ourselves the truth within the party? Does it have to be an outsider, who will tell us how to put our house in order?
The attack by these persons takes no skin off my back. But so that their lies can be uncovered, I suggest an independent audit of campaign funds from 1999 till date. Let us then see who has been mismanaging funds.
Also, the records can and will show that my time as the Campaign DG in 2015 was the best period in the history of the party. Our campaign was superb, strong and constructive. The people of Lagos loved it and we produced the best performance in the history of the party in Lagos post-2003.
The figures are there for all to see. We also won six House of Representatives seats and eight House of Assembly seats.
It is curious to know why certain individuals and their cliques voted against the party in 2015. But the answer is public knowledge. If PDP won Lagos, these persons would cease to lead the party PDP and their pay-checks would be stopped.
What was the position of the Concerned Group of Patriots in the last election?
Did they lose their voices?
What has been their position all this while and how vocal have they been about it?
My Clarion Call to the Lagos PDP was and is not targeted at any individual. Indeed the article identified that the problem is the leadership. There is a Yoruba adage that says, “Bi a ba n sun’kun, a maa riran,” loosely translates as, “Crying should not stop clear vision.” Leadership is not a one-man show; we are all leaders in our respective teams and have been implored to look inwards, myself inclusive. To keep doing the same thing that fails to yield desired results is pure madness.
The Concerned Group of Patriots should focus on weeding out the interlopers in our great party, and stop playing the ostrich. What have been the efforts of these Patriots at rebuilding the party? What is their action plan? I suggest that the Patriots should be concerned about how PDP Lagos can be a viable and effective opposition, and not get into unnecessary sparring. Their action is reminiscent of these words from the great Nigerian Author Chinua Achebe, who said: “An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned” (Things Fall Apart).
HONOURABLE RAHMAN OWOKONIRAN IS ACTING CHAIRMAN OF SOUTH-WEST PDP AND WRITES FROM LAGOS
