A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abia State, Chief Eme Okoro, has said the party lost the 2023 governorship election because of the failure of its leaders to sustain her zoning formula on rotation of political offices.
Okoro who is a Broad of Trustee member of the PDP and a former Secretary to the Abia State Government spoke on Monday in Umuahia the state capital.
He note that just as the party failed to zone the presidential ticket to candidate from Southern Nigeria in 2023, some players in Abia also jettisoned what many elders of party believed will make for smooth running of the state.
He said, “I am a foundation member of the party recognizing that the general opinion we had was that we had gotten a party for the people, a party that would derive its strength from the strength of people and we began even at Abia level to talk about the Charter of Equity. The Charter of Equity simply says let’s pass this around so that every part of our state gets the same or equal opportunity to benefit from leadership.
“It means we must also have the opportunity to build a party as it grows, the people will grow with the party but there are principles that are germane to solidification of political power because PDP flourished for a long while and there was no basis for fear that something like this would happen in Nigeria today, so PDP lost and when you lose direction politically you go into wilderness.”
Asked why he is always seen around Governor Alex Otti, Okoro said the governor is a pro-people leader through his policy direction since the assumption of office.
He said, “Several years ago when I met Alex Otti, he came wanting to be governor of Abia State under the platform of PDP. It didn’t work out for him at that particular period. But I saw in him somebody who was letting our people know that he’s a pro-people person. It’s important. Pro-people.
“And when you practice democracy, you must be pro-people. When you’re a democrat, you must be pro-people. And if you follow democratic principles, you’ll go by the wishes and desires of a greater number of people.”
The elder statesman called the Abia State Government to create a tripartite arrangement that would enable landlords, private investors and government to promote large scale agriculture and food production to fight food insecurity in the state.
