NATIONAL officers and other leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have distanced themselves from the party and the government since the party's loss of the presidency in last Saturday's elections.
The national secretariat of the party, Wadata Plaza, Wuse, Abuja and its presidential campaign organisation at Legacy House, Maitama, also in Abuja, have been deserted by all categories of people who until last weekend's elections were regular callers.
Members of the party's National Working Committee (NWC), its staff members, security officials, lobbyists and other hangers-on have deserted the premises of the two buildings.
Only a few policemen and some private guards were seen at both Wadata Plaza and Legacy House when Saturday Tribune visited on Friday.
"What is our business coming to work when the party has abandoned all the secretariat staff since the beginning of the campaign? We have not been carried along, so, we do not need to come to the office.
"There are contractors whose payment is still outstanding but we are not the ones to pay the debts amounting to several millions of naira. We have no reason to be in office when even our bosses have gone underground since the result (of the presidential election) was announced," a staff member of the party at Wadata Plaza told Saturday Tribune on telephone when asked why he and his colleagues had stayed away from office.
Meanwhile, investigation by Saturday Tribune has further revealed the reasons behind the PDP's showing in last Saturday's elections.
Lack of credible internal democracy through imposition of candidates, defection of the party's five governors alongside other bigwigs to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and sidelining of former President Olusegun Obasanjo were advanced as some of the factors responsible.
It was also alleged that the crack in the party's National Working Committee (NWC), the hijack of the party's structure by a cabal in the presidency, Boko Haram insurgency, kidnap of Chibok schoolgirls, perceived exuberance of the president's wife, Dame Patience Jonathan and poor electoral value of members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) contributed to the failure of the PDP at the polls.
"In truth, we (PDP) are the architects of our own misfortune. It would have amounted to a miracle if we had won the presidency and the majority in the two chambers of the National Assembly in the elections. It is a sorry situation contending with a strong and united opposition in the APC.
"Honestly, if the elections had been held on February 14, it would have been a hopeless outcome. The six weeks postponement afforded the president opportunities to fix the problems discovered, especially in the South-West, but the damage had already been done," a member of the party's Board of Trustees (BOT) told Saturday Tribune in confidence.
