A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Segun Sowunmi, has called on the party to explore ways to bring back former presidential candidate Peter Obi, who defected to the Labour Party in 2022.
Sowunmi said in an interview on Friday during Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Recall that Obi left the PDP citing issues with the party’s presidential primary process. But three years later, Sowunmi is asking the PDP to work to bring Obi back.
“Any deep-thinking, fair-minded Nigerian man who is in the political party called the PDP ought to know that the greatest, necessary next step is to have the conversation about: ‘How do you bring Peter back’ now that the energy driving him is organic,” Sowunmi said.
The PDP has been embroiled in crisis since the 2023 presidential election, with internal conflicts and defections to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Following the suspension and removal of Iyorchia Ayu, Damagum, who was originally the Deputy National Chairman (North), was appointed acting chairman.
However, efforts by the North Central zone to replace him with a substantive chairman have created deep divisions within the party.
The position of national secretary has become the subject of a legal battle between Anyanwu and Ude-Okoye, pushing the agenda to replace Damagum.
Sowunmi attributed the party’s woes to a lack of creativity and poor decision-making.
According to Sowunmi, the internal crisis and sudden spring in defections to the All Progressives Congress (APC) are self-inflicted and should have been sorted out a while back.
“There is a level of activity that you can blame your bullies for, but there is a certain level of recurring, continuous lack of creativity that you have to hold yourself responsible for,” Sowunmi said.
Sowunmi praised President Bola Tinubu’s intellectual capacity, saying, “I know him for his intellectual capacity. He will look frail, but his brain is that of a giant, people underestimate him to their own peril.”
Sowunmi urged the PDP to take a closer look at its internal dynamics and strategize to regain its footing. “What do they know that he doesn’t know?” he asked, referencing the party’s challenges in defeating President Tinubu.
