DOING things differently should be the focus of the new executive committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta. This is for a more dynamic party management and pragmatic state administration, all geared towards the evolution of a greater, infrastructure-rich Delta State. At this point of the state’s march to developmental stardom, such visionary party leadership is needed to push for practical translation of party agenda from policy to tangible performance, dusting the achievements of previous administrations.
We have no doubt that this goal is attainable under the chairmanship of Chief Solomon Arenyeka, which executive committee was inaugurated few weeks ago. The new chairman and members of his committee are tested public officers who had held positions of great responsibility and understand too well the practice of delivering the dividends of democracy to the citizenry. Many of them had been around since 1999 when the current democratic dispensation was birthed, and seen to the party bearing unbroken rule.
We congratulate the chairman and members of the new executive committee of the party for their emergence at the recent state congress of the PDP. It is an affirmation of the implicit confidence the party has in the capacity of the officers to perform. As a matter of fact, party members and the entire people of Delta State expect amazing performance from the leadership that would make the state standout and sparkle among the comity of the federating states.
The performance of a state administration, to a large extent, is a reflection of how efficient and effective the party machinery in the state discharges its responsibilities. Here, the party machine should be practically seen as complementing the efforts of government in every possible way including providing the necessary policy inputs. The party and government should work in such harmony where each partner in the enterprise is accorded due respect and not working at cross-purposes to the detriment of the party.
Unarguably, the PDP has in the last 25 years as the ruling party in the state justified its election. Across the three senatorial districts, the party has on incremental basis raised the bar of socioeconomic infrastructure and invested heavily in human capacity building to address the numerous social and economic challenges bearing down on the state. Today, the state is ever more united and peaceful, ingredients necessary for development.
We must as a matter of appreciation pay tribute to past chairmen and their executive committees that had held sway in the state and assisting the successive state administrations to achieve credible performance. The chairmen include Senator James Manager, Dr. Pius Sinebe, Emmanuel Ogidi, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, Chief Edwin Uzor and Chief Kingsley Esiso. We appreciate them for their services to the state.
Yet, there are challenges the new party executive committee must pay due attention to and fashion out strategies to tackle. Top on the list, in our view, is the discontent among some party faithful and the gale of defections. This may be on account of perceived differences and non-achievement of certain ideals.
It may be argued that individuals have constitutionally guaranteed right to associate with whomever and therefore free to belong to a group or party of their choice. However, such unchecked exits could weaken the party machinery and compromise its existence. With the kind of political structure nationally, it is incumbent on the Aranyeka leadership to embark on amending some cracks and reconciliation within the state party structure.
With a more troubling socioeconomic state of affairs on ground apparently triggered by the harsh policies of the federal government, the state party leadership should assist the government with innovative ideas to mitigate the impact of the policies on the people. Such innovations could also include how to combat insecurity in the state.
The challenges before the new executive committee of the PDP in the state may be quite demanding, particularly at a time like this when other opposition parties are working hard to take over, but we believe the new leadership has the capacity like its predecessors to ward off such incursions and keep the state under the party under which huge progress had been achieved. We wish the executive committee well in its agenda to take the party and state to greater developmental heights.
