Okowa makes case for internal democracy in PDP

By Festus Ahon

ASABA—Governor  Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, yesterday, expressed confidence that  the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will take its pride of place in the nation’s polity with the strengthening of its internal democracy.

Okowa, in Asaba at the Delta State PDP stakeholders meeting with the theme, Strengthening of the PDP For Improved Performance in Delta State, said the era where party leadership revolved round individuals was over in PDP.

The governor, who got a vote of confidence from members of the party, said: “I will continue to counsel and push for internal democracy to stay because it was that process that threw me up and made it possible for me to emerge and gave me the acceptability level that made it possible for us to win convincingly in Delta State. This will start with the process that will take us to the election of those who will run our various wards and local government party committees.

“We must find ways of helping fund the party even in the face of very challenging times and without actually becoming the leader of the party. When people call me the leader of the party, I do not believe it because, I am just Mr. Governor. The party belongs to a collective leadership, there is no one person that can claim leadership of any party. At the ward level,  the local government, the state level and even at the national level, there must be collective leadership if the party is to grow.

“The fact that commissioners, House of Assembly members, council chairmen and others fund the party at the ward and local government levels, which you expect them to do, does not accord them the role of the leader of the party where they must continue to dictate to others.”