Femi Fani-Kayode, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesperson, in an interview he granted to The Vanguard newspaper, has claimed that some PDP chieftains serially betrayed the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan.

Fani-Kayode stated that instead of supporting President Jonathan’s reelection bid some PDP leaders worked secretly for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

His words: “Instead of leading the party, these few individuals in the NWC were busy doing deals with the APC secretly. We in the PCO were not like those promising PDP aspirants in the states the party’s nomination and ticket.

“This led to a lot of problems within the party because, in the end, they did not give those aspirants what they promised. Consequently, many of those aspirants rebelled and worked against us during the elections.

“What is important to us now is to try to rebuild our party and to ensure that we have cred strong leadership that is prepared to take the in-coming APC government head on and keep them on their toes.

He further noted that the party needs a new and fresh leadership that is made up of bright, young, strong and intellectually-inclined minds and that is tolerant of dissenting views and differing opinions.

“We need a new leadership that is open, kind, fair-minded and accomodating and, in order to achieve that, I must add my voice to that of a number of governors and other key stakeholders and leaders in our party who have said that the party’s National Working Committee must go. Sadly, the NWC has become a clog in the wheel of progress,” Fani-Kayode said.

The former aviation minister also praised Nigeria’s First Lady as one of the most forceful, credible and powerful voices during the course of the campaign, saying that Mrs Patience Jonathan did an excellent job for her husband and party’s candidate.

Fani-Kayode said: “The truth is that the First Lady was one of the most forceful, credible and powerful voices during the course of the campaign and she did an excellent job for her husband and our candidate. She did not hide in the kitchen; like a loyal wife that she is, she jumped into the fray and fought for her husband. Why should anyone complain about that?

“This was especially important because the President was under hostile fire from the enemy. She did very well indeed and I take this opportunity to commend her courage. Without her strong contributions and her lending her strong voice to our cause, things would have been far worse.

“When things looked bad, it was the First Lady that encouraged and inspired us more than anyone else. Gov. Ayo Fayose of Ekiti was another person that worked so hard for the party and the President. The same can be said about Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, the late Oronto Douglas, Dr. Doyin Okupe and a number of others. I commend them all and I wish them well.”

Fani-Kayode is known for his hate campaign against the president-elect Muhammadu Buhari.

He once said that Buhari was not qualified to be Nigeria’s president.

The PDP spokesperson also agreed to Mrs Jonathan’ assessment of the presidential candidate of APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), as being “brain dead.