External forces rendering PDP ineffective —Ex-Gov Suswam

Former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, says external forces are undermining the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Suswam, who made this disclosure in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday monitored by DAILY POST, also said the forces have rendered the party ineffective as a viable alternative opposition.

He lamented that the party has since after the 2023 general election failed to live up to the expectations of Nigerians as a viable opposition.

Suswam blamed the current PDP leadership for the ineffective state of the largest opposition party in the country, adding that unless there is an overhaul of its leadership, the party will “go nowhere” because the current leadership has lost focus.

“I think there are subterranean forces inferring in the party and they are determining what is going on in the party. And the leadership is acquiescing to it.

“Subterranean suggests that people are trying to control the party from the outside. They are controlling the party from the outside and they are keeping the party in a comatose state,” he said.

The Benue senator further stated that the party has refused to call a National Executive Committee, NEC meeting, which would have helped resolve some of the issues arising in the party.

He regretted the inability of the party to resolve the fallout of the 2022 presidential primary election which saw a group of five governors work against the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

He added that the inability of the Iliya Damagum-led leadership to discipline erring party members worsened the situation.

Suswam said it was wrong for the party not to have sanctioned the G-5 governors and their allies who openly declared that they would remain in the party and work against its interest.

“They were not sanctioned which made others become emboldened to act any way they wanted. PDP has been weakened since then,” he said.