Fani-Kayode dismissed the allegations of hate campaigns allegedly orchestrated by the campaign directorate as one of the reasons why President Goodluck Jonathan lost the presidential election and indeed PDP losing the general election.
He called on the NWC members to resign if they have any modicum of dignity as some Labour leaders did after losing elections in the United Kingdom.
Fani-Kayode also accused the NWC of using hate campaigns against the All Progressives Congress (APC) as it described APC as a ‘Janjaweed’ and Taliban party.
The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, had last week said President Jonathan lost the presidential election because of the hate campaigns introduced by the presidential campaign organisation of the party.But reacting yesterday, Fani-Kayode dismissed the allegation, saying: “The truth is that their allegations are not only baseless but it is also unadulterated rubbish and those who made them are nothing but ingrates, cowards and traitors who know nothing about politics, political campaigns, intellectual discourse or political engagement.
“They are simply trying to revise and re-write history in order to cover up their treachery, weaknesses and inadequacies. They are fuelled by hate and envy and worse of all, right from the start, they had no interest in fighting for our leader and presidential candidate, President Jonathan, or in ensuring that he won the election.”
According the PDP presidential campaign spokesman, the NWC of the party were envious of the campaign council, saying: “From day one, all they did was sulk about the fact that a presidential campaign organisation had been set up and that they would not be able to have control of the campaign themselves or have access to the resources that we were given. At every point, they tried to undermine our efforts and sabotage us but we ignored them and remained focused on doing our job despite their provocations.
“From day one, all they were interested in was controlling others and telling them what to do. They were not in the fray, they refused to enter the heat of battle and all they did was moan and bicker from the side walk like little children.
“What we were doing and attempting to do was lost on them because they had never taken anything seriously and they found it hard to comprehend the logic and style of those of us who did it.
“Their arrogance was insufferable, they were an unmitigated disaster and their leadership style was abysmal. It still is. If any group of people were responsible for our loss, it was them. They were envious of the PDP presidential campaign organisation and its high profile and they are nothing but a bunch of bitter and treacherous ingrates who have no business leading a political party.”
However, he exonerated some of the NWC members, explaining that: “It is important to note that not all of them were bad. Some of them like Uche Secondus, Kema Chikwe, Jalo, Wale Oladipo, the National Youth Leader and a few others did very best and supported the president as best as they could but the majority of them were terrible.”
According to Fani-Kayode, “What they need to understand and appreciate is that we will not sit by idly and allow them re-write history or make us the fall guys. The only reason we have not opened up on them is out of respect for President Jonathan and because we want to ensure that our party remains united. That does not however mean that we are fools or that we will allow ourselves to be turned into sitting ducks or someone’s punching bag.
“That does not mean that we will allow them to treat us as soft targets or that we are incapable of hitting back. The lies, falsehood, innuendos and terrible stories that they are bandying around about us are just despicable and if they do not stop, they will divide the party and utterly destroy it. That is the sad and bitter truth. In playing this game blame and pointing fingers at others, they are biting off far more than they can chew.
“The fact is that the presidential campaign organisation not only did an excellent job but we also fought a damn good fight. We fought a better fight than any other organ of the party had fought over the last two or three years against a relentless, well-funded, well-motivated and well-organised opposition. Before the presidential campaign orgaisation came into being, the PDP had virtually lost its voice and those who do not recognise this have obviously lost touch with reality. Those that attack us and cast aspersion on our character and blame us for the failure of our party and our president to win the election are not seeing things clearly.
“They are hopelessly confused and they have no idea how political campaigns are conducted in the civilised world. Their accusations are not only baseless, but they are also self serving,” he said.
Fani-Kayode said: “Again looking inwards, was it the presidential campaign organisation that first coined the phrase Janjaweed and Taliban party and labelled the APC as the Janjaweed and Taliban party? No, it was not. It was nobody in our campaign organisation rather it was somebody in the NWC of the PDP. Is that not what you call a campaign of hatred? “
He accused the NWC members of doing underhand deal with the aspirants in the primary elections.
“Instead of leading the party these few individuals in the NWC were busy doing deals with the APC secretly. We in the Campaign Organisation were not like others that were collecting monies from all the various PDP aspirants in the states and promising them the party’s nomination and ticket.
“This led to a lot of problems within the party because in the end they did not give those aspirants what they asked for and what they promised. Consequently many of those aspirants rebelled and worked against us during the elections,” Fani-Kayode said
-Thisday
