Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, BoT, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, on Wednesday gave an insight into what caused the defeat of his party at the general elections.

The former Minister of Defence in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Emeka Nwapa, said his party failed because it dumped its policy of rotation and zoning in 2011.

Recalling the principles on which the party was founded, the one-time acting National Chairman of the PDP, said: “When the founding fathers formed the party in 1998, they established the principle of justice and equity whereby power resided with the people, who could decide who became what at any point in time.

“But over times, the party swerved away and breached the principle, thereby disrupting its internal democracy. When in 2011 the party abandoned its zoning formula, the party dealt on itself a major blow because that action served the first notice that it had disconnected with the masses. So we must go back to the culture of zoning and rotation of offices.

“The PDP remains the only true national party in the country with its flag in all nooks and crannies whose members are assured that they can always aspire to any available position as long as zoning and rotation hold sway as a cardinal policy of the party.”

He urged the PDP to “run away from a practice that leaves the party at the mercy of money bags who, more often than not, seek to hijack the processes of the party at the detriment of promoting genuine internal democracy, through which only capable, credible and popular candidates can emerge to contest elections with assurance of victory,” he said.

He called for party supremacy in all affairs of the party, stressing that elected and appointed office holders should not be allowed to dominate party decisions, while party meetings should be restricted to party offices in the states and the centre.

“The policies and manifesto of the party should also guide the activities of public office holders who are either elected or appointed on the platform of the party in line with good governance and best practices”, he added.

He further urged the party to always seek the counsel of founding fathers of the party.

“In the recent years, many of our leaders, elders and founding fathers have been abandoned in spite of their abiding interest in the party.

“Some have left, some chose to remain, but are inactive, unconcerned or indifferent because nobody has bothered to look for them. This is not acceptable. If there is any time we need them for advice and counsel, it is now”.