The event was a “Retreat for Members of the National Assembly Elected on the platform of the PDP.” This encompasses Senators and Members of the House of Representatives. It turned out to be the first time the PDP congregated after the general elections of February and March this year, commanding the attendance of the upper crust of the party’s leadership superstructure. The recent elections are believed to have been very largely flawed at various levels, and have spawned a litany of litigations at countrywide elections petitions tribunals. The 2023 polls in instances, have been described as the most opaque, most dubious and most contentious in the 24 year old Fourth Republic. The theatrics which have been thrown up at the Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal, (PEPT), for instance, suggest that the feet of the proverbial corpse which was hurriedly interred, are sticking out of its shroud! Reports and filings by local and international observer groups have echoed popular convictions about the largely compromised polls.
Led by former Vice President and banner-bearer of the PDP at the presidential poll, Atiku Abubakar, the topmost stratum of the party on Saturday June 3, 2023, convened in Bauchi. Governor Bala Mohammed who won a hard-fought reelection, was chief host. The national leadership of the party and governors, reelected and freshly minted, honoured the invite to the meeting in good numbers. Candidates of the Saturday November 11, 2023 off-season gubernatorial election in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi, were also in attendance. Bauchi continued to savour the carnival air of the season, presaged by the colourful inauguration, on Monday May 29, of Governor Mohammed, as PDP heavyweights peopled the city. The event was held in Government House.
