AMID INDICATIONS that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is embroiled in a fresh crisis, the party leadership has commenced moves to reconcile all aggrieved members.
The Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Walid Jibrin, in a statement released on Sunday, said the party will set up a reconciliation committee to be headed by presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
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Jibrin, who appealed for calmness among party members over the choice of Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the party’s vice presidential candidate, said the issues would be resolved amicably as soon as Atiku, and national chairman Iyorchia Ayu, return to the country.
“The reconciliation became necessary following the great concern and great sense of feeling on the various recent comments coming from some of our PDP members and some prominent Nigerians on the choice of Chief Okowa, the Governor of Delta State, as the vice presidential candidate by the presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, of our Party, PDP, the biggest party not only in Nigeria but the whole of Africa,” he said.
The PDP BoT chairman listed the names of members of the reconciliation committee as follows: Atiku Abubakar; vice presidential candidate Governor Ifeanyi Okowa; PDP national chairman Iyorchia Ayu; National Working Committee members; the 13 governors on the party’s platform; former PDP governors; former PDP ministers and some PDP elders from zones and states.
The BoT chairman and other members of the board are also part of the reconciliation committee.
The emergence of Delta State governor Okowa as the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP has led to a perceived disagreement between the party’s stalwarts.
Atiku, while speaking on the crisis in a statement a few days ago, said the party is taking action to address the feelings of its aggrieved members.
Jibrin stressed the need to give Atiku maximum support in the 2023 presidential election.
According to him, the reconciliation committee will pay a visit to Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike.
“A very important visit must be undertaken to Governor Nyesom Wike by the group which should be headed by the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.”
He noted that Wike had worked towards building the party.
Speaking on the need for reconciliation in the party, Jibrin said, “We must therefore encourage him (Wike) to never leave the party. In the light of the above, I want to appeal to all PDP members and leaders to shun unorthodox comments aimed at reducing and running down the party.
“We must come together and unite ourselves as earlier established by our founding fathers.
“We should therefore shun any bad comment aimed at dividing us. We must be ready to forget and forgive ourselves by encouraging Nigerians to continue supporting us and our party.”
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.