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The National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has made a U-turn and pledged its loyalty to the party’s governors forum.
The NWC paid a surprise visit to the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who is the chair of the PDP Governors Forum, to pledge their allegiance.
This is contrary to its stance, which aligned with Nyesom Wike, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, against the governor’s.
The NWC had ratified the recently held PDP’s River State chapter’s congress, which is controlled by Wike, who is the immediate past governor of the state, thereby handing over the party structure to him instead of the incumbent Governor, Sim Fubara, who is at war with his predecessor.
The PDP Governors Forum had met in August and unanimously decided to support Governor Fubara to take over the structure of the party in the state and make him the leader of the party in Rivers State in accordance with the party’s constitution.
The NWC’s decision to approve the Wike-controlled party’s congress violated the decision of the PDP governors.
However, Kamaldeen Ajibade Adeyemi, (SAN), the National Legal Adviser of PDP, who spoke on behalf of the delegation during the unscheduled visit to the Bauchi Governor, said the NWC is ready to do the bidding of the governors.
“We feel it is imperative for us to identify with you and to tell you that whatever step taken by the governors forum, we as your representative as National Working Committee will always be glad to implement,” the legal adviser said.
“Secondly, Your Excellency, we are here to also identify with you and to salute your courage as the Chairman of PDP Governors Forum. We cannot pretend, a lot of things have been going on in our party, we cannot pretend to say that all is very well.
“We are grateful and we are glad that you and other colleagues governors have taken the bull by the horns. So, we made it necessary for us to come and identify with you and tell you that whatever steps taken by the Governors Forum under your leadership, We as representatives of the National Working Committee will accept it and are ready to implement.”
Expressing surprise at the visit of the NWC, the governor said the visit was an indication that there is hope for the party.
“This unsolicited visit by the National Working Committee shows that in Nigeria, we have hope,and we are connected by the value and the stability of PDP for peace and stability in our party and in our country.
“Yes, none of the parties is isolated in terms of crisis here and there. Crises are there; that is why leadership is also there. That is why we have to take the bull by the horn to discuss and look at the constitution of our party PDP. All the parties must do things by the rule of law. We must respect people, we must put our interest aside, we must respect our diversity, we must meet and close ranks especially when the issue has to do with our party, the PDP. Our party has a pedigree.”
He noted that the developments Nigeria had witnessed in recent times were brought by PDP and carpeted the current led APC for doing nothing to develop Nigeria.
“Most of the developments in this country were done by the PDP. When PDP left, nothing was done. You can see all the members of the national working committee here are square peg in square holes. Even if we are quarreling, we are together. Nobody should misunderstand that we are not a splinter group,” he said.
On Wike’s threat to ‘put fire’ in the states of the PDP governors for supporting Governor Fubara, Governor Bala dared the Minister, saying: “No one can put fire in Bauchi because we have a volume of water to quench the fire.
“We are together; nobody can put fire in Bauchi. We have a volume of water that will quench the fire. Even my friend who said that did so because he is annoyed. Maybe I have said something that annoyed him but it is not personal. My friend is my friend, my job is my job and leadership is leadership,” Bala said.
