Some party leaders’ deceitful disposition is unduly prolonging needless frictions within the People’s Democratic Party and increasing the likelihood of losing 2023 presidential elections, a PDP pressure group, PDP Frontliners has declared.
Calling for immediate positive action from the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike and party leaders across the nation, the PDP Frontliners emphatically warned that if prolonged, the current situation will make Atiku to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory’’.
In a statement signed by Hussein Mohammed, Moses Abidemi and Dan Okafor who are President, Secretary and Publicity Secretary respectively, the PDP Frontliners alleged that ‘a medley group of losers and political Lilliputians’ in the Rivers state chapter of the party now drop daily tons of lies and propaganda towards driving further wedge between Atiku and Wike, in hopes that such method increases their chances for ministerial appointment in an Atiku Presidency.
“The listening ears being given by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to fantasy groups like the South-South Ward to Ward Group, a mere group of jolly friends who visited him in Abuja on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 along with potential political expiry products like Mr. Lee Maeba whose still nurses wounds from a failed governorship bid in Rivers state churn out baseless perspectives capable of misleading Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“There are mischief-makers in Rivers state who are actively working with mischievous anti-Wike party elements in Abuja; daily, you hear fabricated ‘news’ that Wike has pulled down all PDP flags in Rivers state or that he has kicked out party elders in the state but these are largely the machinations of disgruntled souls from the geo-political zone.
“It is astounding that hours after circulating false reports that Governor Wike had ordered the removal of PDP flags in Rivers State Government House, further lies and propaganda got circulated across many media platforms on Friday morning, claiming that Governor Wike filed suit seeking the removal of Atiku Abubakar as presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); it came at a time when every lawyer and knowledgeable Nigerians know that the constitutional deadline for such has been exceeded.
According to the group, there is equally a handful of eminent partymen in Abuja whose speech and deeds can only guarantee sure loss for the PDP and its presidential candidate if emphatic moves for total resolution of outstanding issues between the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike are not urgently addressed.
“The ruling APC’s mind-numbing cluelessness in the management of Nigeria’s economy and the blood-curdling woefulness of insecurity caused by their lack of political will as well as a litany of dangerous intra-party indicators readily ensure APC’s loss in the coming elections but PDP needs to put its house in order if we really want to win.
“Sadly, someone like Governor Nyesom Wike who has sacrificed a lot to keep the party together and forge a way forward through moments of grave uncertainties is now being ridiculed and somewhat alienated by few party leaders who never ventured to make a tiny fraction of such personal sacrifices; sadly again, some even abandoned PDP to romance another party and returned only when the likes of Governor Wike had done much rebuilding.
“Where was our chairman, Ayu when PDP was going through major turbulence which Governor Wike and others addressed headlong but his foxy leadership, hasty and not well thought out decisions fosters divisiveness; Secondus’ belly-ache is understandable but you have few others like former governors of Niger and Jigawa states, Dr . Babangida Aliyu and Alhaji Sule Lamido respectively who sometimes come out with insensitive, unhelpful statements capable of delaying or disrupting ongoing peace processes within the PDP.
“Unconcerned by the bad performance of our great party in their respective states, leaders like former governors of Niger and Jigawa states, Dr . Babangida Aliyu and Alhaji Sule Lamido have gone ahead to make various uncomplimentary statements about the person· of Governor Wike on various media platforms in ways that suggest that while they seek to further ingratiate themselves towards our presidential candidate, they may once again, be somewhat indifferent to the fate of our party.
“Since 2015, why has the PDP been unable to record any significant victory in both Niger and Jigawa states where these pontificating party leaders came from and in what way is their being among the party’s greatest beneficiaries yielding any significant dividend for PDP in their respective states today?”
“Those who argue that Governor Wike’s anger is justified also assert that after a great job of rebuilding PDP, it is the likes of Alhaji Sule Lamido who have their children holding the most sought after party tickets while others like Alhaji Babangida Aliyu who lack good support base still fail woefully at putting proteges in positions of responsibility, he stated.
According to the PDP Frontliners, the PDP’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar needs to stop listening to deceivers, urgently address murmurings and halt growing disenchantment being generated over perceived short-changing of Governor Wike, adding that it is in the best interest of both Atiku and the PDP for the party to go into the 2023 elections with unity of purpose and firm resolve towards victory.
“Today, rightly, or wrongly, some party members are wondering whether we are turning the party into a Northern Peoples Congress when justifiable resolve for zoning the presidency to the south appear to have been wantonly truncated and many key positions including that of presidential candidate, national chairman, Board of Trustees chairman and Secretary, presidential campaign spokesmen, PDP Governors’ Forum chairman and few other critical positions remain in the North.
“Our presidential candidate and the party leadership must ensure unity and address party loyalists’ anxieties by giving an ear to voices of criticism even when what they say appears harsh and unfriendly; in 2019, we won four states in the North and thirteen in the South, so there is just no reason why the South, including Governor Wike should be given the impression that they now matter less.
“A stitch in time saves nine; the sooner we resolve our differences and come together towards claiming genuine victory in 2023, the better it would be for PDP and the entire people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who are now tired of the burdens of unprecedented unemployment, inflation, insecurity, and other woes that the ruling party has brought in place of its utopian promises of 2015,” the group stated.
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