A former member of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Yusuf, has attributed the crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to several factors, including the failure of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to prioritise the unity of the party over his personal political ambitions.
Atiku contested as the PDP’s presidential candidate in the last two election cycles, but Yusuf believes it is time for him to step aside and allow the party to return to its original zoning formula, which he says would promote peace within the party.
“If I have my way, I will advise former Vice President Atiku, leave PDP ticket, let it go to the South even if we don’t win presidential election, we would have been seen as going back to our original modus operandi where party positions are zoned,” Yusuf said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
“Look at the South-South and the South-East, which have been reasonably the bedrock of the PDP. You just come and pick a ticket, people will start losing hope because the desire of everybody is to get to the peak of their career.
“If they now realise that because of the number that comes from one particular section in a primary election, they cannot get the ticket, they get frustrated,” he said.
Since the 2023 general election, several top members of the former ruling party, including governors and National Assembly members, have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The most recent defectors are Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, his deputy Monday Onyeme, his predecessor Ifeanyi Okowa, and other top PDP members in the state, who joined the APC on Wednesday.
Yusuf, who represented the Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, claimed that the PDP’s issue was caused by its own actions.
He accused the party’s governors of intentionally prolonging the issue in order to justify their departure to other political platforms.
