Professor of Political Economy and former Presidential candidate, Pat Utomi, has said that the gale of defections from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress as unhealthy for Nigeria’s democracy.
For him, a strong party that offers viable alternative to the ruling party is needful every serious democracy.
Utomi, while speaking as a guest speaker at the 6th Annual Leadership Lecture/ Graduation Ceremony of the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, Centre LSD’s leadership school, held on Saturday in Abuja, He asaid he would have defected to the PDP if not for the fact that he had been a consistent voice of the opposition in the last 16 years.
“If not that I have been in the opposition for the last 16 years, I would have joined the PDP,” said Prof Pat Utomi.
“This is because the PDP needs to be strengthened to be able to check the excesses of the APC. We should even have shadow ministers in the various ministries who will be holding individual ministries accountable,” he said further.
Speaking on leadership, he said it was not just about power and authority, instead, about influence for good. He called on the incoming Nigerian leaders to mobilise the entire nation around issues so as to have everyone’s commitment which will make it easy for them to achieve their goals.
Also speaking at the event, Samson Adeniran, the Programme Manager of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, KAS, which supports Centre LSD’S leadership school said, they have been partnering with the Centre in the last 6 years as part of their organisation’s work in the area of entrenching rule of law in Nigeria’s emerging democracy.
Speaking earlier on, Dr Otive Igbuzor the executive director of Centre LSD said the leadership school was designed for people interested in leadership to be equipped with leadership skills “for transformation of organisations and society”.
