Former Minister Mustafa Bello Blames PDP Crisis on Lack of Leadership

As the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) grapples with internal divisions, a former Minister of Commerce Mustafa Bello has pointed to a lack of true leadership as the primary issue plaguing the party. 

Speaking in an interview monitored by Radio Now’s Newsdesk, Mr. Bello stressed that the presence of competing factions within the party is hindering its progress. He believes the party must adopt a more inclusive and flexible approach to governance, rather than sticking to rigid stances driven by individual agendas.

“I think PDP as a party would need to sit and remove the culture of we can do with this and we don’t want to do with this and get the whole house together. Rigidity, in my opinion, will not help any business, any kind of business. Is it political? Is it corporate? Whatever you call it. I think there must be a give-and-take. People should show themselves as responsible. A situation whereby camps are created within a political party and each camp, you know, drawing a line, we will not move unless we get what we want and by the end of the day, destroying the whole foundation of the party that was built in 1998, you know. So I think they need to actually act responsibly, behave responsibly and put responsible leaders that people respect that when they call for a meeting to develop a solution that addresses the challenges the party is going through.”

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Bello argued that the PDP needs a respected leader to navigate the party out of its ongoing crisis. He pointed out that former leaders such as Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, and Namadi Sambo have lost their influence within the party. According to Bello, the PDP must unite under a strong, charismatic leader who can bring people together and offer practical solutions. Without such leadership, he warned, the party’s internal strife will continue.

“So, I think they need to really sit and agree on who first should be a leader that they can respect. Unfortunately, the former president Obasanjo is not in the party. I don’t know who former president Jonathan is in the party, but I don’t think they take him seriously, you know, neither the former vice president Nnamwa Disambu, you know, is taking seriously. So, once you don’t identify a leader that you can revert to when you have crisis and listen to his own suggestions or advice, then obviously the situation will continue as you have seen it going on currently. So, I think they need to first identify who is a leader in the party, and that leader must be a strong person, person with character that they can believe in, they can listen to, and they can obey when he says do this, then you can get a solution. But where so many leaders are within the party and nobody is willing to listen to them.”