Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike has declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will shock Nigerians with its performance in next year’s elections, despite the current crisis rocking the party.
Speaking in Abuja ahead of the PDP national convention scheduled to take place in the Federal Capital today, Wike said arrangement for the event was on course.
National Publicity Secretary of the Abdulrahman Muhammad/Wike faction of the party, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed said separately that they were not aware of any court order stopping the convention.
At least, one state chapter confirmed yesterday that it would not be part of the convention.
Sokoto State PDP Publicity Secretary Hassan Sanyinawal said the chapter was neutral in the conflict between the two sides and would therefore steer clear of the Abuja meeting.
Wike said the PDP would use the 2027 elections to show its strength.
He said today’s national convention would proceed as scheduled while reconciliatory talks between the two sides would continue thereafter.
“There is room for accommodation. The PDP is a very large party. Look at the umbrella, it is wide enough to accommodate everyone,” he said after inspecting the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Velodrome Abuja, venue of the convention.
Continuing, the FCT minister said: “I have always said that in any group, there will be grievances. You cannot expect that in a family of two or three people, everyone will always be satisfied let alone a party with millions of members.
“There will always be a few who are not happy. We have agreed to sit down with them, understand their concerns, and see how we can accommodate them. What is most important is the overall interest of the party.”
Wike said there was no basis for the appeal lodged with the Supreme Court by the Tanimu Turaki –led faction against the Court of Appeal judgment on the party’s leadership.
He confirmed that party positions had been allocated across zones.
His words: “We have already zoned our positions. Every zone has its own slots. The presidency has been zoned to the South, while the chairmanship is zoned to the North.
“We believe this consensus arrangement will make the process easier.
“For the first time, PDP is presenting a unified front, rather than the usual ‘unity list’ that often reflects internal divisions.”
He explained that the visit to the stadium was to assess the final arrangements for the convention which, he said, was about 95 per cent ready.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
