“All is not well” in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the internal schism may cost the party the 2023 election unless the leadership steps quickly to overcome these difficult times, according to Benue Governor Samuel Ortom.
He agreed that the disagreement between PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike is harming the party and chastised the party’s leadership for acting too late to address the crisis.
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Failure to use internal dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve the squabble over PDP National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu’s tenure in office causes challenges for the party, Ortom claimed in a statement published through his Media Aide Nathaniel Ikyu.
On September 07, 2022 the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) passed a confidence vote in Ayu to avert his resignation, but Wike said that the confidence vote could not save Ayu and that there would be no reconciliation until he resigned.
He also dismissed PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman Walid Jibrin’s resignation on September 8, saying it will not reconcile him with Atiku and the PDP because the demand is for Ayu to quit.
Ortom, one of Wike’s many PDP allies, claimed the party was waiting for the issue to escalate.
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“There are some internal methods that should be used to resolve conflicts inside the party.” “Some of these instruments should have been deployed a long time ago,” he added in a statement.
He mentioned more peace discussions between the Atiku and Wike camps.
“Discussions are taking on at various levels, away from the public eye, to assure unity and oneness of purpose in the PDP, with an eye on 2023.”
“I’m quite interested in making sure we talk. I want us to have a win-win situation so that people feel taken along.”
Ortom stated that the PDP will reinvent itself in time to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023, despite its current issues.
He stated that the Wike camp is still ready to talks and that there are real issues to be worked out, but he emphasised that the PDP will not “cross the Rubicon” despite the fact that all is not well with the party at the present.
“I won’t pretend that everything is fine with our party. The good news is that we are aware of the challenges and have initiated discourse in a variety of ways.
“I have always encouraged engagement.” Everyone cannot win all of the time.”
He emphasised the importance of the PDP uniting and standing firm in order to beat the APC in 2023, as the PDP remained a viable alternative to the APC’s “dismal and abysmal” performance during its seven years in office.
