THE National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Victor Yusufu Kwon, has described the crises rocking the party in several states as democracy at work.
to him, internal wrangling should be expected in a party, like the PDP, which is regarded as the largest political party in Africa.
Kwon, who spoke to journalists at the weekend in Jos, referred to the so-called crises as mere differences of opinions.
States where the party is faced with problems include Adamawa and Ogun States.
On Adamawa State, he disclosed that the National Working Committee (NWC) has waded into the problem by dissolving the state executive committee. He said that as members of the same large family, "matters have gone so far that we do expect that in not too distant time, two to three weeks, these issues would be sorted out finally.
"PDP is a large family and so you should expect some differences. And, of course, like a family, those differences are often addressed internally.
"Unfortunately, in the case of Ogun State, we also have problems. There has been some litigation in the party in Ogun. But, like you all know, the NWC, as approved by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, has constituted reconciliation committees. So, we do expect that when we come back in January, and these committees go in full swing, these problems will be resolved, even in Ogun, notwithstanding the cases pending in court. We are members of one family."
On the recent nullification of Plateau North Senatorial District bye-election by the Federal High Court in Abuja, the legal adviser said that the party is worried at the decision because it convincingly won the election.
"But again, like you know, the party takes seriously every election that it contests and when we win, we do everything within the constitutional provisions of the land to protect our victory. As I speak, an appeal has been filed against that decision and we do hope that as provided by the constitutional provisions of the country, we will be able to, through the appellate court, recover what appears to have been taken away from us by the decision," Kwon explained.
He further explained that the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the party that took PDP to court, filed that suit just a day before the bye-election, contending that their logo ought to have been on the ballot.
According to him, "by the provisions of the Electoral Act, any political party that wishes to contest an election, as provided by the Act, must conduct a primary whether directly or indirectly. But there always has to be a primary.
"In the case of CPC, no primary at all was conducted and so when they purportedly forwarded names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of their candidate for that election, INEC was unable to reflect that party on the ballot, because to do so would have been a direct violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act that require that there has to be primaries."
On the effectiveness of internal democracy in PDP, Kwon posited that there is no party in Nigeria that offers the quality of internal democracy the PDP offers, pointing out that it is only in the PDP where ward congresses, local government congresses, state congresses, zonal congresses, national congresses are publicly held and in some cases televised.
"No other party does that. It is only in PDP that you have congresses of primaries for the selection of the party candidates for elections held publicly, monitored by INEC and in most cases televised."
He chastised some of the other political parties where an individual sits somewhere in his bedroom and draws up a list of candidates.
He also disclosed that PDP is not worried about talks of merger among other political parties, describing the development as democracy at work.
But he was quick to add that people should bear in mind that a hurried marriage of strange bedfellows is not going to last.
