PDP Chieftain Segun Sowunmi Expresses Disappointment Over Party Crisis

Segun Sowunmi, a prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), voiced his disappointment that key figures like former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan have not intervened to address the party’s internal conflicts.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today program, Sowunmi expressed his expectation that leaders like Obasanjo and Jonathan would have stepped in to resolve the ongoing crisis within the party ahead of the 2023 elections.

Recently, some PDP members in the House of Representatives, led by Ikenga UgoChinyere and comprising approximately 60 lawmakers, called for the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Umar Damagum. They alleged Damagum’s allegiance to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and criticized the party leadership’s silence on political developments in Rivers State, particularly contrasting their inaction with President Bola Tinubu’s involvement.

Sowunmi attributed the agitation for Damagum’s resignation and other internal discord within the party leadership to what he referred to as the “Wike problem.”

The ex-Ogun PDP governorship aspirant lamented that the PDP had previously dealt with the challenges posed by the then Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, before the last general elections, yet similar issues persist even a year after the polls.

Expressing regret, the PDP stalwart noted that the internal conflicts within the party have endured beyond the 2023 presidential election.

Sowunmi emphasized that it’s crucial for the founding fathers of the party to intervene and facilitate reconciliation among conflicting party members to strengthen and solidify the achievements of the party.

“A 25-year-old institution is supposed to be one of the legacies that one of the most populous black nations will tell the world that we can also run this thing,” he said.

“I’m disappointed that the founding fathers, the Jonathans of this world, the Obasanjos of this world and co, I am disappointed that they are looking at the platform that gave them the opportunity to lead, I am disappointed that they are looking it bleed.”