The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to convene an emergency meeting to review the demand of the camp of the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike.
The acting chairman of the BoT, Dr Adolphus Nwabara, yesterday led the members to meet with Wike in Port Harcourt, where he (Wike) presented conditions to end the crisis.
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The camp of Wike has been calling for the resignation of the national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, a demand the camp of the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, has waved away.
Daily Trust reports that the meeting with the BoT members was a sequel to the parley of the five governors in the camp of the Rivers State governor in Enugu at the weekend.
Speaking at the end of the meeting, Wabara said the fact-finding team had gotten some information through the briefing it had with Governor Wike and was better informed, adding that the team will return to Abuja and digest all it had gathered from Governor Wike.
“We are better informed; we have gotten some information. Every coin has two sides; we have been briefed by the governor. We will go back to Abuja to digest all that we have gathered from Wike.
“We had a very frank talk, but the good thing still remains that this big family is still one. We are still under that umbrella called PDP and by the special grace of God we will end up victorious,” he said.
Wike, in his remarks, said he would never leave the party. He said the BOT members were in the state to sort out internal issues in the party.
Meanwhile, the party says it has concluded arrangements to officially commence open campaign for the 2023 elections in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, on Monday.
Addressing journalists after inspecting the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Office in Abuja, the Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Aminu Tambuwal, said only Atiku has shown that he is ready to govern the country.
The Sokoto State governor said only PDP has inaugurated its campaign council and was set to officially commence campaign, unlike the other political parties which, he noted, were not ready.
He also said PDP remained the party to beat across the country and even in the South East, contrary to insinuations that the party’s gains in the area had been reduced.
“By the grace of God, we are flagging off the campaign this coming Monday, at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. All arrangements have been made to have a very successful flag off of the campaign.
“Our campaign is going to be issue-based. We’re going to be marketing our candidates based on the programme that we brought out, which is generally solution-based.
“Atiku is very well prepared to provide the required leadership for this country at this time,” he said.
Tambuwal noted that with only the PDP inaugurating its campaign council, “Even that should confirm to Nigerians that PDP is the only party and indeed with the candidate that is prepared and ready to go.”
On the crisis in the party, Tambuwal said, “We’re not involved in a war of attrition. It is a political disagreement, and we’re working to resolve all of those issues.”
According to him, “We ‘re very prepared to go into the South East and we believe that we’re still the number one candidate for the South East and we are going to consult everywhere in all of the six political zones in this country.”
Camps lock horns during NWC meeting
Members of the two camps locked horns during the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting on Tuesday.
At the meeting, which lasted till 8:30 pm, the two camps were said to have exchanged hot words over the bribery scandal that rocked the party last week.
While those in Wike’s camp are insisting that it was a bribe, members of the NWC loyal to Ayu dispelled the claims.
Debo Ologunagba, National Publicity Secretary of PDP, in a statement said the housing allowance passed through due process.
