- Atiku left PDP in frustration, says Wike • Damagum, Anyanwu, others to vacate office Dec 8
Another round of crisis may be brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the outcome of some of its congresses.
Ahead of the November 14 convention in Ibadan where new national officers of the party will be elected, congresses have been held at the ward, local government and geo-political zone levels.
Among these are the would-be delegates to the convention.
But Minister of Feral Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike yesterday queried the Southeast zonal election, saying it should not stand.
He warned that the zonal election in his Southsouth zone, which some leaders of the party have challenged, must not be tampered with.
Chief Dan Orbih from Edo State was elected as the National Vice Chairman (Southsouth) during the congress held at Calabar in March.
Acting Chairman, Umar Damagum, said the results cannot be upheld because the zonal governors did not support that congress.
Wike, who rejected Damagum’s claim, said his insistence on the cancellation of the congress may spark a fresh crisis in the party.
Also, the minister said the Southeast Congress that produced Ali Odefa as National Vice Chairman (Southeast) cannot stand because the court had ruled that he was no longer a party member.
Wike spoke on the challenges before the PDP ahead of its planned November 15 Convention during the August edition of his monthly media chat on television in Abuja.
According to the timetable for the congresses and convention, Damagum, National Secretary Senator Samuel Anyanwu and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) are expected to hand over the baton on December 8.
Congresses spark crisis
Wike, who spoke for the first time after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his camp defected from the PDP to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the crisis may be over following their exit.
He described the defectors as “buccaneers and vampires,” stressing that his firm resistance against impunity led to the shedding of PDP’s excess baggage.
Noting that Atiku is obsessed with getting the presidential ticket of any party, Wike said he left because there was no room for him to get the PDP flag.
The minister, however, insisted that the outcome of the recent Southsouth Zonal Congress, which produced Orbih as National Vice Chairman, must be accepted to avoid another crisis.
He said: “I said I was going to remain in the PDP, and that was why I said the right thing must be done.
“I will not leave this party, which I have done everything for, for the buccaneers and vampires.
“If I had left the party, the buccaneers and vampires would have remained in PDP to come and collect the ticket.”
To avoid a fresh crisis, Wike said the controversy over the Southsouth and Southeast congresses should be resolved.
He said: “Well, it is over for now because there are still some things remaining which I have told them they must do.
“One is our Southsouth Zonal Congress, which we must uphold. There is no two ways about it.
“During our Southsouth Zonal Congress, the acting National Chairman claimed that the PDP governors were not in support of that zonal Congress. Where are the PDP governors today?
“Our Congress was held in Calabar, and there is nothing anybody can tell us. If they want another round of crisis, so be it. That Congress must be. Chief Dan Orbih emerged as National Vice Chairman.
“The courts allowed for congress to hold. A congress was held, and the so-called Acting National Chairman of the party wrote to INEC after the congress had taken place, stating that the congress had been postponed.
“Something was held on the 5th and then on the 8th, you said it has been postponed. So, there is no two ways about it.
“The National Vice Chairman of the PDP Southsouth is Chief Dan Orbih. If they don’t agree, that is another round to the crisis”.
The minister added that the Southeast Congress, which produced Odefa, cannot stand because the courts had affirmed that he was no longer a member of the party.
He said his team will not allow any reign of impunity in the PDP, urging the leadership to resolve the issues before the November convention.
Wike stressed: “These are people who, in all their political nature, and we know from the campaigns, are going from one party to the other.
“So, every political period, you form a coalition. Here we see some people who have joined ADC. It is okay.
“This is not the first time they have joined new parties. It is in their bloodstream that this is what they are going to do. You can’t change it.
“I think he (Atiku) was in the PDP in 1999. Then he joined AC. The AC/ACN was controlled by whom? By the incumbent President now.
“Now, what happened to him? Later, he came back to the PDP. Then what happened? He moved again to APC.
“From APC, he returned to the PDP, only to secure presidential tickets every time. Then, from the PDP now, he has gone away again. ADC.
“All this has to do with presidential ambition. ‘Can I get my ticket? The way PDP is now, it is not likely that I will get a ticket’.
“Then he goes to tell you: ‘Let us come together, let us form a coalition against the people’. It is because he cannot get the presidential ticket under PDP.”
Wike also explained how he led some PDP stakeholders to reject a recommendation that former Senate President David Mark, who is the ADC National Chairman, be made the National Chairman of the PDP.
He recalled: “When we started having this issue of the national chairman in the Northcentral, there was pressure that David Mark should be the national chairman. We refused. Why?
“Why would we not refuse? What change will it bring to the party? If he were Senate President for eight years, what were the things that happened? What is the improvement?
“I have told you here. I prefer somebody who has not had any position who has come to tell me, ‘Look, I am doing this because of this government, I want to help for a change to achieve this and that.
“I will not listen to anybody who has been in power for years, who has refused to contribute anything to the development of the country. And now you come to tell me this story that ‘look, we need to rescue this country’. You were there. The country was sinking. You didn’t rescue.”
Wike urged critics to applaud the administration of President Bola Ahmed for the dividends of democracy.
He said detractors were either misinformed or intentionally ignoring the facts about the scope and direction of the FCT’s development under the Tinubu Administration.
Wike said: “We engage stakeholders. I am not bothered that they said the provider of the infrastructure is showcasing. Can you provide infrastructure without urban planning?”
He recalled his administration’s efforts to engage grassroots communities across the FCT’s six area councils, saying that those consultations directly informed policy and project priorities.
Wike said: “When we came on board, we visited the six area councils. We sat with the youths, traditional rulers and the women. That was the first time that the stakeholders said: ‘This is our priority.’”
He said the collaborative process led to the establishment of a Youth Secretariat and a Women’s Secretariat in Abuja.
Wike added: “What are people talking about, non-engagement with stakeholders? Who are the stakeholders? There has been engagement, and stakeholders’ input drives the economy of any country.
“What brings investors? Will investors bring infrastructure and broadband? These are the primary things that investors will see and come and say: ‘I want to establish a private university, hospital, or agricultural factory.
“People criticise when they don’t have anything to say. My people say: ‘When you don’t have anything to say against somebody, you say: ‘See as him be.’”
Wike said performance should be recognised regardless of personal bias, adding: “You must appreciate when a government has done well; you don’t need to like the person in charge.
“This is a government that inherited so many issues. Something that hasn’t happened in 10 years since 1999, you expect someone to do it in two years? It can’t be done.”
In a statement titled: ‘Timetable and schedule of activity for year 2025 elective national convention and schedule of activities for year 2025 elective national convention,’ the PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, said the various committees for a hitch-free exercise would be set up soon.
He said a meeting of the NWC has been slated for August 24 to deliberate on the agenda before the 102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja on August 25.
Bature explained that the National Caucus meeting would also be held in Abuja on the same day, while the date for the Board of Trustees (BoT)’s meeting would be decided later.
The Organising Secretary said the NEC meeting would review and adopt the resolutions of the PDP Zoning Committee.
Also, between August 26 and September 1, the Zonal Executive Committees (ZECs) in the six geo-political zones are scheduled to hold consultations on nominations for the party offices zoned to the respective regions.
Bature said between September 3 and 22, the PDP Directorate of Finance would undertake the sale of Nomination and the Expression of Interest forms to aspirants for various national offices, which must be submitted to the party’s national secretariat on or before September 26.
The party official said the forms would be processed and forwarded to the PDP Screening Committee for vetting.
On September 30, aspirants are mandated to appear before the PDP Screening Committee at the national secretariat.
Bature said the list of cleared aspirants would be released and certificates of clearance issued to them on October 1.
He said aggrieved aspirants would have the right of appeal on October 6, adding that the final list of cleared aspirants would be published on October 10.
