Adedokun Waliyu 
Nigerian music executive cum politician, Olubankole Wellington, popularly known as Banky W, has owned up to some of the challenges his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), created for Nigerians.
Banky W, who will be flying the PDP flag in 2023 elections as the House of Representatives candidate for Eti-Osa Federal Constituency in Lagos, made this confession during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday, October 12, 2022.
Pulse reports that the music exec also contested for the same position during the 2019 elections and lost to eventual winner and All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Jide Obanikoro.
The EME boss later crossed over to the PDP after the MDP was de-registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Justifying his reasons for choosing the PDP, Banky W explained that he chose the party that best aligned with his principles, and one with a structure that can win elections.
“And concerning the choice of PDP: politics is local, and you need structure to win elections. We ran in 2019 on a party called MDP. But MDP was literally myself and my friend (called) BK. He was running in Ondo State and I was running in Lagos. We were just a bunch of young people.
“After that election, INEC de-registered most of the political parties which I was fully in support of because they were 96. It didn’t make sense. And if you look at any functioning democracy in the world, like if you want to get into any office in America, you have to be a Democrat or a Republican. So also in the UK, it’s between Labour and Conservative.
“So, looking at both parties, I said where do I think that I can go into without losing my soul, where I will be able to stand on what I stand for, fight for what I want to fight for. And the PDP ticked those boxes for me. It’s truly a democratic party.”
Banky W further stated that, though he’s not oblivious of some of the pains the PDP had caused Nigerians in the past, which he could not defend, he’s willing to be one of the people who can reform the party.
“But the truth of the matter is, we have to acknowledge the pains that a lot of young people feel, we have to acknowledge the frustration Nigerians feel, some of which were caused by people in the PDP, absolutely.
“But the way I look at it is that a system is only as good as the people that are involved in it. A system is just a collection of people that are fighting for it, pushing for any kind of result. So, the longer we shun the process, the longer that the system will be bad.
“The truth of the matter is that I’m not here to defend anything everybody in the PDP has ever done. That’s not my job. I’m here to reform it.”
