A former senator, Gershom Bassey, has blamed the ongoing crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party on what he described as a departure from the principles laid down by the party’s founding fathers.

Bassey, who represented Cross River South in the 9th National Assembly, spoke during an interactive session with journalists on Wednesday in Calabar.

He said the party’s Cross River State chapter made a serious mistake during the 2023 governorship election by failing to listen to the people and by ignoring the long-standing principle of power rotation.

According to him, the PDP had always succeeded because it paid attention to the wishes of the electorate, a tradition he said was abandoned in 2023. He explained that the general opinion across the state was that power should rotate to the southern senatorial district, but the party insisted that the position could go to any zone.

Bassey described the 2023 election as “bittersweet,” noting that while it was painful to see the party he loved suffer setbacks, the state eventually upheld its founding values.

He recalled that from the Calabar-Ogoja accord, the principle had been clear that power must rotate among the senatorial districts, a tradition he said the state remained faithful to.

The former senator added that after the elections, the party slipped into what he called a cycle of self-destruction, driven largely by forces from Abuja and supported by some individuals within the state. He said this situation weakened the party significantly.

Despite the challenges, Bassey expressed confidence that the PDP would recover, saying the party still has a future.
On the performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress, he said it was too early to pass judgment, stressing that the administration was only halfway through its tenure.

[NAN]