The former candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last November governorship election in Kogi State, Senator Dino Melaye, is facing significant criticism for his recent attack on the party leadership.
In a post on his platform, Melaye claimed that the end is near for the PDP as it has been irredeemably destroyed by Damagun, Bature, and Anyanwu.
Melaye further expressed his views on the commercialization and privatization of the PDP, stating that the party is now a thing of the past.
However, the PDP Frontliners, a group within the party, have responded by challenging Melaye to explain what he did with the ticket that was given to him by the party as its candidate in the previous Kogi governorship election.
In a statement issued by Alhaji Hussein Mohammed, Mr Moses Abidemi, and Mr Dan Okafor, who are President, Secretary, and Publicity Secretary respectively, the group revealed that Melaye had received substantial support for his campaign, including vehicles from PDP stakeholders. Despite this support, he allegedly failed to allocate campaign funds to party structures or polling agents across Kogi state.
The group expressed disappointment with Melaye’s performance, noting that the PDP received only a meager 46,000 votes throughout the entire state in the governorship election, and Melaye himself did not even bother to vote.
According to the group, Melaye’s attack on the party leadership is misguided, as it is motivated by his frustration at being denied the opportunity to take control of the PDP structure in Kogi State during the recent party congresses.
The group also highlighted Melaye’s involvement in attempts to disrupt the PDP ward congress in Kogi State earlier, in an effort to commercialize and deliver the party to a paymaster for personal gains in 2027.
Pointing out Melaye’s hypocrisy, the group emphasized that he has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the PDP. The party had given him the PDP ticket to the House of Representatives, and even after his return from the APC, Melaye was granted a senatorial ticket, after persuading other qualified aspirants to step down. Despite all this, Melaye is now using baseless insults to repay the party.
Melaye’s anger towards Damagum and the PDP leadership originated from their agreement to honor the call made by our group and 18 out of the 21 PDP Chairmen in various local government areas of Kogi state. They collectively opposed the replacement of the results of a fair and orderly ad-hoc delegates conference held on Saturday, July 27th, 2024, with a manipulated process that was hastily scheduled for Saturday, August 10th, but subsequently canceled by the national leadership.
It is evident that someone is attempting to deceive and commercialize the PDP support base in Kogi State. Isn’t it ironic that the same minority clique that was involved in the failed attempt to commercialize and privatize the Kogi state PDP ahead of the 2027 primaries is now audaciously making accusations against those who decisively prevented the manipulation?
The group remains optimistic that the PDP will emerge as Nigeria’s dominant party in 2027 if the unethical practice of using backdoor methods to impose the agenda of desperate cliques is consistently resisted by the national leadership.
