From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum (PDP-GF) has said it would not allow anyone take the party to the slaughter slab.
The chairman of the forum and Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who stated this at the inauguration of the PDP National Convention Committee, yesterday, in Abuja said the governors were not afraid to take on anyone in their bid to move the party forward.
This is as the PDP’s national chairman, Umar Damagum, said the party’s decision to hold its National Convention in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on November 15 and 16, was sacrosanct.
Tension has been rising in the opposition party, ahead of the national convention, as interest groups engage in a battle of wits.
Yesterday, a group of PDP stakeholders, including the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, in a communique, after a meeting in Abuja, demanded the conduct of fresh congresses in Ebonyi and Anambra states, as well as in South East chapter and the recognition of a South South zonal congress held in Calabar, Cross River State, last February.
The group, which also include Ayo Fayose, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, former Governors of Ekiti, Benue, Abia and Enugu states, respectively, opposed the micro-zoning of NWC seats and insisted that the North Central must produce the next national chairman of the party.
They warned that failure by the PDP to comply with their demands
“shall render any purported national convention invalid, as legitimate members of the party would be disenfranchised.”
The PDP governors and Wike have been engaged in supremacy battle in the aftermath of the 2023 general elections.
The rift between the governors and the FCT Minister deepened during the tussle over the national secretary’s position. While the governors backed former national youth leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye, Wike threw his weight behind Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
After the resolution of the crisis over the national secretary’s position, the PDP at its 101 National Executive Committee (NEC), scheduled the national convention for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan.
Wike, while speaking in television programme, a few days after the NEC meeting, denied knowledge of the opposition party’s plan to hold its next convention to elect new NWC members, stating that NEC was yet to meet to take any such decision.
Weeks earlier, the FCT Minister had demanded the recognition of a South South zonal congress, which held in Calabar and the conduct of a fresh zonal Congress in the South East.
However, the PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said nobody could dictate for the opposition party, stating that it has always followed its rules in all its activities. The party also threatened to sanction members for any anti-party activities.
The Bauchi governor, who noted that the opposition governors were solidly behind the National Working Committee (NWC) in its quest to instil discipline, and hold a national convention to elect a new leadership for the party ahead of the next general elections, said nobody can stop the convention.
He stated that while they were not opposed to consensus and accommodation of all interests in the party, they would not allow anyone take the party for granted.
According to him, “the time has come when we must flex our muscles.We are not cowards, and we are not afraid of anybody. We are capable of navigating this party beyond the shenanigans, beyond the arrogance, and beyond the impunity of others.
“We cannot continue to keep quiet and allow people to take us to the slaughterhouse. That’s their job. And our job is to make sure we don’t go to the slaughterhouse.
“And we are working as governors and working with the committee to ensure that. The key word is discipline. We will no longer allow or tolerate anybody to take us for granted. It has to stop. Enough is enough. We are not going to tolerate it any longer. Yes, consensus. Yes, accommodation. But accommodation cannot mean stupidity.
“Our party is on course; to make sure we have our party. If anybody wants to become a faction of fools, we will allow him to go and do it.”
The chairman of the 119-member National Convention Committee, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri,of Adamawa State, while speaking at the event, promised that the panel will deliver a credible convention.
Fintiri, who noted that he enjoys good relationship with every stakeholder in the party, assured that he will not place personal relationship above the interest of the PDP.
He admonished members of the panel to be ready to make sacrifices that will enable them deliver the “best, the fairest and the most credible convention ever,” will lead to the return of former members who have moved to the African Democratic Congress ( ADC).
According to him, “so, that we can open a gateway for some of us that have shifted side, because I still believe there is no ADC in this country. It will still fizzle away so long as we get our acts together, so long as we do what is expected of us.
“We will still work with them and call them back to this party and I know also that if we do the kind of magic we did when we conducted the last convention in 2022, even the ADC will have nowhere than to come back to PDP.
The Adamawa governor added, “this convention is not chaired by a learner, it is chaired by a credible, a resolute, a fair chairman. So I want to ask some of us, please let’s respect this party that has positioned us into where we have found ourselves individually in this country.
“Let us not be taking all our problems to the media. I am ready to accommodate all your fears whatever you will ask for, the secretary of the committee is there.
“We are not going to stop anybody from contesting whatever position that you feel fit to contest but then you have to do it with decorum. Come and buy the form. We will sell it for you, to go and test your might, test your popularity.”
Earlier, Damagum,in his address , said the forthcoming national convention is crucial, as NWC members elected at the convention, will be saddled with the task of leading the opposition party to the 2027 polls.
“This National Convention is of critical importance. The National Officers we elect will lead our great party into the next general elections and beyond. We must recognize that the challenges we face as the leading opposition are mutating, much to the dismay of well-meaning Nigerians.
“While the faction that broke out has not garnered much traction, we know that politics is dynamic, and the ruling class may seek to capitalize on or even sponsor such distractions to weaken the PDP, which remains the only dominant opposition party in our dear country, Nigeria.
The PDP chairman, while noting that the All Progressives Congress ( APC) has not shown any regard for democratic tenets, said the opposition party must prove to Nigerians that it remains “remains the vanguard of democracy and the blueprint for due process.”
According to him, “Today, I say with conviction that the PDP is not broken. The PDP is not defeated. The PDP is marching forward; stronger, more determined, and better prepared to fulfill our overriding objective: to reclaim the presidency of this great country and rebuild Nigeria from the mismanagement of the current ruling party.
“This is mission critical. The recent by-elections across the country, as well as the local government elections in Port Harcourt, speak for themselves. Opposition parties were met with intimidation and blatant rigging.
“The ruling party has shown no regard for democracy; their only interest lies in disenfranchising voters and stealing mandates. I will not dignify their actions by calling it ‘winning.’ Just as during the military era, when the founding fathers of our great party courageously accepted the responsibility of challenging the existing power structure, today we, too, accept this responsibility—to rescue Nigeria’s democracy from undemocratic forces and to save our nation from this ongoing bastardization.
“The inauguration of this Committee, while part of our tradition, also symbolizes our collective determination to organize, to mobilize, and to deliver a National Convention that will stand as a testament to our democratic ideals.”
Similarly, the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees ( BoT), Senator Adolphus Wabara, stressed the need for the members of the party to build consensus ahead in the run-up to the national convention.
Wabara, who was represented by the BoT secretary, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, said though the party has zoned NWC positions between the North and South, anyone, who disagrees with the zoning is free to test his popularity at the convention.
He said: “Convention is not about excluding anybody. It also not a denial of the majority to have their way, because that is what democracy is all about. Convention is not about 100 percent, but about overwhelming majority. If you have 100 percent fine.
“In that direction, the party has zoned its positions-North, South. North can sit and do what they wish. South can sit and do what they wish. But that should not deny any individual, who disagrees by testing his will. Buy the form, go to the field and test your capacity.
“So, there is no need raising temperature, because there will be no, and there should be no exclusion. That has been the tradition since PDP was formed. Let’s build consensus. We have always been building consensus. Now we need it more than any other time. I believe we have the capacity to do that.”
