Enugu PDP and the burden of Credibility
.

By Innocent Ugwuoke
.

There is so much rot and confusion going on with the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP). For a party which once prided itself as the biggest party in Africa, that’s truly sad to see.

From its unraveling at the national level where a group of five governors are undermining its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to the caricature of their campaign in my home state Enugu, PDP cuts a tragic picture of an old lion which has lived its best life, and is way beyond its usefulness.

The Enugu debacle, led by the terribly uncharismatic Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, a member of the five renegade PDP governors, whose tenure in Lion Building is described as a colossal failure, is a case in point. From Ugwuanyi, a man who has conspired to shoot his political relevance in Enugu State and the South East in the face, to the visionless Barr. Peter Mbah, the party’s gubernatorial flag bearer whose campaign slogan is the vacuous and dubious “Tomorrow is here,”, the picture of a party in disarray is daily painted.

Only recently, the viral video, titled “Ego Ndi Enugu”, which has shown that the vaunted riches, which the PDP and Peter Mbah have been throwing about, may be stolen money from the commonwealth of Enugu State, has created a crisis of credibility for a party struggling to find its footing. While they are yet to find a fitting response to the weighty accusations leveled in that video, their stock in Enugu continues plummet.

Without a worthy response, without a credible message based on a clear vision that would help alleviate the suffering of Enugu people, which the party itself created in its long years in charge, without candidates, both past and present, behind whom people can coalesce and offer support, the party continues to present itself as untrustworthy, bereft of ideas, and peopled by men of poor vision and questionable integrity.

To shore up its flagging fortunes, PDP has resorted to creating fictitious stories to divert attention from its colossal failings. There are no projects of enduring quality to sell. There is mounting unemployment and poverty in the state. Water remains a scarce commodity in the present age. Workers and pensioners are owed monstrous amounts and Christmas for too many families is nasty, poor and brutish.

In many communities there are invasive killers turning Enugu State into a river of blood. And while this carnage is ongoing, the Governor of the state is following Governor Nyesom Wike around, wearing matching uniforms and dancing on national television.

And to show itself worse and its own worst enemy, instead of offering hope to the people, PDP is engaging in pushing out fraudulent messages. The latest is a fictitious Christmas message credited to the gubernatorial candidate of Labour Party, Hon. Chijioke Jonathan Edeoga, purporting a disagreement with the National leader of Labour Party and Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.

While the Labour Party and its candidate have denied issuing the statement, the question to ask is: Why is PDP authorizing such fraud? Why is the party falling into the trap of self destruction? Why is it showing itself as a party in disarray?

While the answers are obvious, of a party which is dependent upon falsehood and fraud to win an election, it is important to restate the growing unwillingness of Enugu people to be deceived again, by a party which refuses to explain where the resources of the state have disappeared to, and whose candidate still has questions to answer with anti graft agencies. And remains indicted by the National Assembly for fuel subsidy scam.