The one-party rule issue came to the fore again yesterday, leading to a clash between the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a communiqué issued after its 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, the PDP accused the APC of plotting a ‘one-party totalitarian rule’.
The party spoke against the backdrop of the mass defection from its fold into the APC.
Governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives, and other elected officials have deserted the opposition party, which is itself in turmoil.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who spoke at the APC’s summit on Thursday, dismissed the one-party fear.
That did not stop the PDP from reaffirming the claim.
Yesterday, the APC responded, saying the PDP was hallucinating.
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Party spokesman Felix Morka said opposition parties are living with the fear of the harmless.
Morka said: “The communique of the PDP NEC is nothing but a piece of tranquillising lullaby meant to calm the frailed nerves of members of a pathetic and self-defeating party.
“Rather than concentrate its scant energies in search of solutions to its internecine strife, PDP’s NEC chose, instead, to delude itself by blaming the APC for its woes, including its thinning membership.”
Morka, who said the ruling party would not want to join words with the opposition, assured Nigerians that President Tinubu remains focused on building a prosperous Nigeria.
In the 10-point communiqué, the PDP heaped the blame for the ‘economic woes of the country’ on the Federal Government.
It called on the government to rescind its policies, which it claimed had made Nigerians poorer.
It added that the government had failed to prevent insecurity and kidnapping.
The NEC, presided over by Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum, ratified the composition of the Zoning Committee, led by Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, and the National Convention Panel chaired by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.
Other members of the Zoning Committee are Governor Dauda Lawal (Zamfara, Vice Chairman) and Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau, Secretary).
Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke is Vice Chairman of the Convention Committee, and his Enugu counterpart, Peter Mbah, is Secretary.
Damagum said: “NEC resolved to consider the resolution of the Southeast Zonal Executive at the next NEC meeting scheduled to be held on June 30 in respect of the position of national secretary.”
The Southeast caucus is pushing for Sunday Ude-Okoye in place of Samuel Anyanwu.
The NEC also fixed the convention for August 28 to 30.
The meeting was held at the party’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza, temporarily shut on Monday by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) over non-payment of ground rent for many years.
But the property and others in the same situation got a reprieve of two weeks granted by the President to fulfil their obligation.
Also at the meeting were Governors Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), who is PDP Governors’ Forum Chairman; Agbu Kefas (Taraba), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo), and BoT members – former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, Chief Olabode George, Chief Tom Ikimi, and Senator Ben Obi.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and Akwa Ibom State Governor Umoh Eno were absent.
‘Those who left will return’
Mohammed said the governors had resolved to stand by the platform and halt the gale of defections.
The Bauchi Governor said: “Our members are standing strong and resolute. There is no intimidation that we are not going through. There is no caressing or cajoling that members and elected governors are not going through if you ask anyone of them. But certainly, we are resolute. We will not abandon the mandate.
“That is why you can see us here together. Yes, we wish well for those who have left. But we believe this is not the first time people left PDP and came back. I’m sure they will come back.
“The governors are united. We are ready to work. No amount of intimidation or exclusion by the Federal Government will make us give in. And we are ready to tolerate and swallow all the melancholy, all the abuses that we will get.”
Lauding the NEC members for their patience, he added: “This 99th NEC is to us a triumph of democracy, a triumph of good governance about the evil that we are experiencing in this country.”
Wabara described the PDP as the most credible platform for national transformation, adding that its future is bright.
He said: “We must be honest with ourselves. There is still much work to do. Divisions, mistrusts, and lingering grievances within our ranks have at times hampered our progress and blurred our vision.
“As the party of the people, we must recommit to healing these wounds and restoring faith among our members.
“As chairman of the Board of Trustees, the conscience of the party, I call on all of us leaders, elders, youths, and stakeholders to embrace reconciliation, not just as a political tactic, but as a moral imperative. We must open our hearts to forgive, to dialogue, and to debate.”
Party leadership, not Wike, to blame, says Suswam
Former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam berated the PDP leadership for the protracted crisis.
Suswam, who spoke on television, faulted leadership for holding secret meetings with Wike without the knowledge of major stakeholders.
He said: “The lack of leadership in the PDP is at the root of the crisis within the party.
“According to the FCT Minister, there was a meeting in Lagos. He was invited and had an agreement in Lagos. There was another meeting in Abuja in the house of a former Senate President, where those agreements were consolidated.
“If you are sincere with the people, when we were called by former and current governors for a meeting about two weeks ago, none of these issues were before us.
“Nobody knew that there was a secret meeting where the agreement was reached with the FCT minister.
“If you engage someone in an agreement, it is only honourable to keep that agreement. If you are not interested, why give false hope in the first place?”
Suswam added: “I don’t blame Wike. It is a lack of capacity of the leadership of the PDP, and the leadership has not been straight with party followers.
“We are stakeholders. If we are called to a meeting by the current governors, under the leadership of Bala Mohammed, and we are not aware of secret meetings held earlier with Wike and the agreements, it means that we were hoodwinked, and I think that is not right.
“There was no need to make an agreement with Wike at the expense of other people.”
George chides Wike
George condemned the sealing of the party’s national secretariat by the FCT administration, describing the action as a betrayal by Wike.
He expressed disappointment that Wike, a long-time beneficiary of the PDP, would allow such an act to take place under his watch.
George, who spoke on television, said: “I was shell-shocked. He is my political son. He rose through the ranks on the platform of this party—from local government chairman to governor, minister (state education), and now FCT minister.
“You don’t go to your village, become the local government chairman, and the first thing you do is lock up your father’s house because he owes the village dues. That is betrayal.”
He added: “They waited until the very day we had to hold our NEC meeting to seal our office. He should have just paid it and brought the receipt to us. That is what a true and loyal son of the house would do.”
According to the FCTA, the owner of the PDP secretariat building, Senator Samaila Mamman Kofi, owes ground rent for over 28 years.
Why I won’t attend NEC, by Lamido
Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido insisted that he would not participate in PDP activities unless Wike and former Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom were expelled.
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was absent at the NEC meeting, also frowned at the claim by Anyanwu, the embattled National Secretary, whom he said had been rejected by the Zonal Executive Committee.
Though Wike and Anyanwu were not at the NEC meeting, the newly inaugurated Board of Trustees (BoT) member, Samuel Ortom, was in attendance at yesterday’s meeting.
Decked in his Tiv traditional cap and a white kaftan, the immediate past Benue State governor came into Legacy House in the company of the PDP Governors Forum Chairman and Bauchi State Governor.
Lamido, who is also a member of the PDP BoT, told reporters in Abuja that the Minister and the former governor should be expelled for anti-party activities and for working against its interest in the 2023 general elections.
The former Jigawa governor berated the FCT minister for his apathy to peace.
He said: “Here is someone who was honoured by the PDP, brought into relevance by the PDP, and now turns around to fight the very party that made him. Wike is, quite frankly, a disaster. “What he has done is un-African and un-Nigerian.
“I don’t understand how someone, simply because of his own ambition, can take things so personally and act so destructively. There used to be a party culture that prioritised collective good, something altruistic, but that seems lost now.
“To seal the PDP secretariat — a party that produced you, nurtured you — no matter your grievances, no matter your bitterness, it’s like destroying your own home. He claims he financed the party.
“But is it wrong for a son to take care of his own mother? Does it now mean the mother must submit to the son and take orders from him simply because he’s providing her clothing?
“Wike is thinking in a very warped way. He lacks the values and traditions that define our political culture. I’m glad, however, that President Tinubu intervened.
“The office was reopened by his order. The very man Wike is trying to please by destroying his own political family is the one saying, ‘No, you can’t do that.’”
Lamidu also faulted Ortom, whom he accused of publicly endorsing the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, at the expense of the PDP candidate.
He said: “Look at the BOT. People like Ortom, who declared support for Peter Obi in 2023, are still members. That’s why I’ve said I will not attend any PDP meeting unless Wike is expelled and people like Ortom are removed from the BOT.
“I remain a PDP member, but I will not participate in party functions or answer calls to meetings while these individuals remain in leadership.
“How can I sit with someone like Ortom in the BOT to discuss the future of PDP? Or someone who is rejected in his own zone and is now being imposed by another zone? These are impostors.”
Lamenting the lack of discipline in PDP, Lamido said: “During our time, the party was supreme. It held full authority, and everyone respected it, whether in the North, South, East, or West. Anyone, no matter how influential, who crossed the party line would be sanctioned.
“Today, people openly working against the PDP are still being tolerated. “Someone like Wike, who claims to love the PDP but is clearly undermining it, should be expelled by the NWC. Why hasn’t that happened?”
