The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership has hinted that it is not considering suspending former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and others who might have gone contrary to the party’s position, especially during the 2023 general elections.
The position was made known on Tuesday by the National Organising Secretary of the party, Umar Bature during his speech at the interactive session with some leaders of the party at the PDP secretariat in Abuja.
According to him, suspension is not an answer to bad behaviour towards the party as every member of the PDP played a role or the other in the final analysis of the party’s performance in the 2023 polls.
He submitted that the focus is not to apportion blame but to douse tension, reconcile members and forge a strong, united front for the PDP going forward.
Bature also reiterated that the PDP believes its 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar won the election and would reclaim his mandate legally through the tribunal.
He said, “I welcome all of us to this meeting. It is the first meeting after the general election. We carefully and deliberately called for this meeting to in a way, douse the pressure or tension within the party as a result of the aftermath of the 2023 elections.
“This party believes that Atiku Abubakar won the election but we are in court and without prejudice to what the court will decide, we will keep it aside.
“Let me acknowledge that this meeting is not an NEC meeting but an interactive meeting with the aim to jump-start a reconciliation process.
“Let me give a preview of our performance in the last election. In the State House of Assemblies, we have 342 members, we have 116 members in the House of Representatives.
“In the Senate, we have 36 members and we have 13 Governors. We believe strongly that the ongoing tribunal cases in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Ogun, Kaduna and Sokoto States will be in our favour.
“As the Acting National Chairman said, we started these meetings with the ex-officio where we briefed them on our performance in the 2023 election and gave an update on the level of party management.
“We also discussed the challenges of state chapters. We also looked at the issue of vacant positions within the State Chapters and other various organs of the party because of swinging membership.
“Some people went to other parties and all that. We sought suggestions on how to improve the party.
“We are here today and everyone knows what happened in 2023. We contributed both individually and collectively.
“If you rise to speak, I beg you to spell out your own role in the 2023 elections, either positive or negative before you jump to accuse someone else either negative or positive.
“Everybody had a role to play. When you rise to speak, please, tell us the role you played. You can accuse anybody here of playing pro or anti-party activities.
“The aim is when we are through, we will have an idea of what to do with the party before we move to other organs like the national caucus, National Executive Council NEC, for the way forward for the party. I believe there is hope for the party because our membership is still very strong.”
During his speech, Bature revealed that some issues transpired between the party and its members in Port Harcourt which might come up again during Tuesday’s meeting but stated that suspension of members is not on the agenda for now.
“We are conscious of the issues because we went to Port Harcourt and I am sure, that will come up here. I will explain why we went to Port Harcourt.
“We believe there are people here who will accuse some of our elders of certain roles they played. In my state, somebody suggested that we should suspend a member but I said no.
“He is free to go anywhere he wants to go. Suspending him means you are acknowledging that he has done something bad to the party. Suspension is not an answer to bad behaviour towards the party,” he said.
On his part, the Acting Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara, said the large turnout of people at the meeting is an indication of the party’s relevance.
He urged PDP members not to despair but work together in order to become stronger, reiterating his belief that the party’s presidential candidate would emerge victorious at the tribunal.
Wabara said, “Frankly speaking, I didn’t expect that we still have this number in our party. I want to congratulate all of us for this having faith in this party. This is what will make us strong to clinch our stolen victory. We should not despair. We are in politics!
“As our acting National Chairman mentioned, they stole our mandate. We hope the tribunal and the courts will give us back our stolen mandate.
“Much as some of us may disagree with the synopsis, because we are still in court, we should mind what we are going to say today so it doesn’t work against us in the court.
“Let us watch how we attack ourselves. There will be time for that. The BOT waits to take some advisory decisions but then this is not the time.”
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