Members of the Peoples Democratic Party, under the aegis of the PDP Umbrella Force, have blamed the recent losses in the just concluded Imo and Kogi States governorship elections on poor leadership.
In the election results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC defeated PDP in Imo and Kogi States in the Saturday poll.
In Imo, APC candidate and the governor of the state, Hope Uzodinma polled 540,308 votes to beat Samuel Anyanwu of PDP, who garnered 71,503 votes.
In Kogi State, the candidate of the ruling APC, Usman Ododo, won the election with 446,237 votes and defeated his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party, who polled 259,052 votes
Reacting, the group, in an open letter issued by its convener, Prince Yemi Adebowale, blamed the development on the absence of a substantive national chairman, lack of party discipline of erring stakeholders and alleged exclusion of youth and women from party activities.
The Umbrella Force called on the leadership of the party to ensure that the party is restructured and reformed.
“This weekend’s losses highlight the need to change the way our party operates, as the alienation of critical stakeholders and crucial demographics contributed to our overwhelming defeat and embarrassing losses in two out of the three off-cycle elections”, the letter added.
