A former senator, Gershom Bassey, has blamed the crisis currently rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on deviation from the principles of its founding fathers.

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

He also stated that the Cross River State chapter of the party made a fatal error during the 2023 governirship elections in the state.

Mr Bassey said that the decision not to listen to the voice of the people and abide by the principles of the founding fathers on power rotation cost the party dearly.

He stated, “2023 was bittersweet (for PDP). Bitter because the party that I love, the great PDP, made a fatal error by not listening to the people, which ended up in the virtual collapse of the party. The key to our success has been that the PDP always listened to the people.  But in 2023, they had the arrogance to believe that they cannot listen to the people.

“The people were saying that there should be rotation and that it was the turn of the South; that’s what the entire state was saying but the party said it could be anywhere.

“The sweet part of it is that we kept faith with the founders of our state who had, from inception, right from the Calabar-Ogoja accord, said power must rotate among the senatorial districts. And as a state, we must be very proud of ourselves that we kept faith with those founding principles.”

The former senator stated that after the elections, his party went into a ‘cycle of self-destruction,’ all of which, he said, came from Abuja, with support from some elements in the state, resulting in the party becoming a shadow of its former self.

He, however, expressed the optimism that the party would, one day, overcome the challenges, adding, “There is a future for PDP.”

On his assessment of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Bassey said that it would be too early to pass any judgement now.

He added, “It’s still halftime, and we can not say what will happen at the end of the term.”

(NAN)