Ojougboh Says PDP Members Are Not Corrupt

By Amos Igbebe
Following the ongoing crackdown on alleged corrupt officials of the Goodluck Jonathan’s government, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, South South Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has absolved members of the PDP of involvement in corruption, insisting that the PDP had distanced itself from persons being arrested and prosecuted by the APC led federal government.
Ojougboh, who was speaking in Asaba, the Delta State capital, during a stakeholders’ meeting organized by the party, said though there were issues being addressed at the national headquarters of the party with a view to strengthening the party, over 90 percent of PDP members across the nation had never been involved in corruption in all their dealings in government.
“From the national level, efforts are being made to rebrand and reposition the party. Little problems are at the national level but they are being addressed at the moment. On the issue of corruption, the party has distanced itself from the persons being arrested and prosecuted for corruption. 90 percent of PDP members have never been involved in corruption, that’s the position of the party”, Ojougboh had said.
Ojougboh, who told the PDP faithful that the party was gearing up to reclaim its pride at the federal level, acknowledged that though the party currently had challenges in Edo, Rivers and Akwa ibom in the South South, only Delta and Cross River States are currently stable in the region.
He pleaded with PDP members to stand with the party and encourage its success in the South South region, maintaining that the national headquarters had realized the need to set up reconciliation committees with a view to reconciling aggrieved members who had defected to other parties back to the PDP family.
Delta State Chairman of the Party, Chief Edwin Uzor, said the meeting was convened to examine issues affecting the party in the state, calling on appointees to justify the confidence reposed on them by the leadership of the party.
He told the gathering that the party had realized the mistakes that led to its fall at the centre, saying the onus now lies on members to sit down and restrategise so as to reclaim power at the federal level and bring back the lost glory.
Professor Sam Oyovbaire, a one-time Minister of Information and a PDP stalwart in the state, lambasted PDP members who had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying it was disappointing that persons who had made a fortune out the party could turn around and become enemies of the party.
Oyovbaire, who is Chairman of Governing Council of Delta State University, Abraka and Chairman, Delta State Peace Advisory Council, said it was unfair and greedy for such persons to have benefited from the PDP and later defected to APC just for the fact that the APC had taken over power at the presidency.
According to him, “PDP is going through the wilderness experience, it does not have leaders again in Abuja. Everybody is now hovering around the state because they have no space in Abuja. But if anybody is running away, let him go. Anybody defecting is a person of dubious character. APC is going to fail. It’s not capable of learning from PDP and it may not stay long in power”.