Actualise the PDP Reform
With public opinion on its side, nothing can fail, with public opinion against it, nothing can succeed – Abraham Lincoln.
The outcome of the August 5, 2008 Peoples Democratic Party's National Executive Committee meeting should be commended by all lovers of democracy in Nigeria. It is indeed a step in the right direction. At the meeting, the NEC of the party inter alia resolved that its Board of Trustee should revert to its advisory position; there shall be no more arbitrary nomination of candidates, hence the party will uphold the rule of law and will forthwith monitor the performance of its elected officials while party elders are now to be co-opted into state caucuses. The NEC also reconstituted its disciplinary committee.In taking these far-reaching decisions, PDP is bowing to the pressure from within its fold and the general public who had not spared it on the ignoble role the party has been playing since the return to electoral democracy in 1999. It is on record that the party is the most castigated, vilified and disparaged. Yet, the party has always endeavoued to redeem its image. Apart from being the only political party which has an institute (Peoples Democratic Institute), it has from time to time organised retreats, seminars and conferences to educate and re-orientate its members. If PDP will follow through with this self-cleansing and hold fast to constitutionalism and internal party democracy, the tone would have been set for what to expect with the on-going constitutional-cum electoral reform exercise. However, if the party's reform agenda as set on August 5, 2008 is botched, then PDP would have justified the cynicism of the opposition parties and the Doubting Thomases in Nigeria that nothing good can come from PDP's Nazareth. The choice is PDP's.
The outcome of the August 5, 2008 Peoples Democratic Party's National Executive Committee meeting should be commended by all lovers of democracy in Nigeria. It is indeed a step in the right direction. At the meeting, the NEC of the party inter alia resolved that its Board of Trustee should revert to its advisory position; there shall be no more arbitrary nomination of candidates, hence the party will uphold the rule of law and will forthwith monitor the performance of its elected officials while party elders are now to be co-opted into state caucuses. The NEC also reconstituted its disciplinary committee.In taking these far-reaching decisions, PDP is bowing to the pressure from within its fold and the general public who had not spared it on the ignoble role the party has been playing since the return to electoral democracy in 1999. It is on record that the party is the most castigated, vilified and disparaged. Yet, the party has always endeavoued to redeem its image. Apart from being the only political party which has an institute (Peoples Democratic Institute), it has from time to time organised retreats, seminars and conferences to educate and re-orientate its members. If PDP will follow through with this self-cleansing and hold fast to constitutionalism and internal party democracy, the tone would have been set for what to expect with the on-going constitutional-cum electoral reform exercise. However, if the party's reform agenda as set on August 5, 2008 is botched, then PDP would have justified the cynicism of the opposition parties and the Doubting Thomases in Nigeria that nothing good can come from PDP's Nazareth. The choice is PDP's.
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