The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah, said the Peoples Democratic Party lost the 28 March and 11 April elections because the party had lost control of its ministers and henchmen and had become a ‘mere distribution agency’.

Kukah spoke Friday at the convocation lecture of the Ebonyi State University, where he will also bag a honorary doctorate degree today.

The title of the lecture was “Transition To Democracy: Can Nigeria Ride The Wave?”.And Kukah used it to x-ray why the opposition All Progressives Congress was able to defeat the PDP in the general elections.

He identified lack of party cohesion, insensitivity to supporters and inability to control its stalwarts’ excesses as reasons for the party’s failure.

He, however, blamed these on the poor foundation of the party at its inception, saying that the PDP “was really not a party and never worked hard to become a party.”

“Successful transitions are based on the typology of the transition. Was it negotiated as it was in South Africa or is it an emergency transition? I don’t believe we have a transition in Nigeria, because I followed the circumstances that brought in Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and I know the story pretty well.

“But what we had was really an attempt at becoming a democracy. PDP has reaped the ill wind it sowed because clearly PDP was really not a party and it never worked hard to become a party. It became a distribution agency.

“It is true that these elections could have swung either way. Many would argue that President Goodluck Jonathan and his PDP could have won the elections had they not succumbed to the hubris that has become the hallmark of the PDP. We all know the story of the peculiar circumstances that brought the party into being.

“We also know that despite that, the party became an association of takers and buccaneers more than anything else. The party could not deal quickly with the issues of greed and arrogance of some of its men and women in power.

“The party could not control the excesses of some of its ministers and henchmen/women. It simply saw itself as presiding over a distribution agency.”