Following the acrimony that led to their defeat in the last general election, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged party leaders to let bygones be bygones.
The party leadership stated this during its first reconciliatory meeting after the 2023 general elections. Over 180 party leaders including former national chairmen, former governors and former Senate presidents were invited for the meeting which held at PDP national secretariat.
The meeting summoned by the National Working Committee (NWC) and described as a select committee was billed to “deliberate on crucial issues of our Party.”
The party has remained split between camps loyal to PDP presidential candidate in the last election, Atiku Abubakar; and former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, a fallout of the last presidential election which also manifested in the recent National Assembly leadership election. Atiku and Wike were however not present at the meeting.
Speaking at the meeting, the acting national chairman of PDP, Ambassador Umar Damagum, said the gathering will give party leaders the opportunity to review the outcome of the last general elections and to share ideas about how to strengthen the party to face the challenges ahead.
“This meeting is going to be an interactive session and I want us to be conscious of the fact that while making your contributions we should be mindful of the fact that we are one family. Anybody that is in this hall today is here by the virtue of the fact that he /she meant well for this party. I want to enjoin us to contribute in a manner that will not hurt the sensibilities of others. We are one family and so we shall remain.”
Speaking also the national organising secretary of the party, Capt Umar Bature, said the leadership carefully and deliberately called for the meeting to 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 a NEC meeting but an interactive meeting with the aim to jump starting 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 Strate 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 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 for 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 , NEC for the way forward for the party. I believe there is hope for the party because our membership is still very strong.
“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 a bad behaviour towards the party.”
