Politics: Dickson Rues ‘Evaporation’ Of PDP, Says Ex-President Jonathan ‘Sad’ About It
Jonathan was Nigeria's president from 2010 to 2015 under the PDP.
Senator Seriake Dickson is unhappy over the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and believes that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan “must be sad” that the party, which produced three presidents since the return of democracy in 1999, has been “killed and buried”.
Dickson spoke on Tuesday as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, weeks after he left the PDP for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
When asked if he consulted Jonathan before the move, Dickson, who is from the same state as the ex-president, said, “What I can say is that President Jonathan, while I’m not his spokesman, must be very sad.
“I know that if I’m sad, having been this attached to the PDP, you can imagine how sad he will be, having been governor, deputy governor, vice president, and president of Nigeria on that platform, and right before your eyes, that platform is evaporating.”
READ ALSO: Senator Seriake Dickson Dumps PDP, Declares For Newly Registered NDC
Dickson ruled Bayelsa from 2012 to 2020 under the PDP and joined the newly registered NDC on March 5. During his official defection, the lawmaker described the party as “our symbol of victory”.
“So, my dear Nigerians, you now have a credible alternative opposition party known as the Nigeria Democratic Congress,” the ex-governor said at the ceremony in Abuja.
“Yes, it is coming at this time. We would have wished it had started some years or months back; we don’t control INEC and their processes. They delayed. We also don’t control the judiciary, but thank God it has finally arrived.”
The PDP has been embroiled in crisis in the past year, with two groups laying claims to its leadership. Its ranks have also been depleted. Currently, it has two governors after several of them left for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Despite accusations that the major players in the PDP, like Dickson, are leaving the party, the lawmaker said, “It wouldn’t be correct to say that we are leaving the PDP or that I have left the PDP.
“The PDP, rather unfortunately, has left us, has left me, because the platform has evaporated and ceased to exist.”
