The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is tinkering with slamming sanctions on its members-elect who support the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in the National Assembly leadership tussle, LEADERSHIP gathered yesterday.
The move is a fallout of the simmering tussle between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike over the leadership of the party.
Wike had rallied support for APC candidates for leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives, namely Senator Godswill Akpabio and Hon Tajudeen Abbas, respectively.
A source said the party leadership is poised to threaten its members-elect who vote for Akpabio and Abbas on June 13 when the National Assembly is inaugurated.
This move comes as PDP holds a retreat in Akwa Ibom State today, which is meant to enable the party to forge a united front.
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However, a source conversant with the intrigues surrounding the leadership tussle for the soul of PDP said the race for the National Assembly leadership had amplified the battle between the Atiku and Wike camps.
A top PDP source, who pleaded not to be named, told LEADERSHIP: “We are determined to stop whoever the ruling party has adopted for leadership position in the 10th Assembly; that is their business and it is also our business to counter them. As they want to control the Parliament, we are also ready to stop them.”
The source said the party will not sit back and allow the ruling party to corner all the positions, adding that since the APC was bent on insisting that its adopted candidates are voted into office, the PDP will also insist its members-elect follow the party’s instruction.
“So one of the key issues we will deliberate and agree upon is that all our members should follow candidates other than Akpabio in the Senate and Abbas in the case of House of Reps.
“And to show that we mean business, we will tell them openly at our Uyo retreat from Wednesday that the adherence to our instruction is the only key to any lawmaker who wishes to return.
“It is compulsory and the reason we are doing this is to know who truly belongs to and believes in our party. We are already seeing that some outgone governors who are lobbying for federal appointments are boasting of having more than half of lawmakers to support the APC choices.
“We will enforce it to ensure any PDP lawmaker or even governor that supports Akpabio and Abbas is denied the return ticket. For such people hoping to play such a game, they have choices to make on whether to support who PDP goes for or do otherwise and forget their tickets at stake.
“So at our level, we are also determined to separate those who belong to the anti-party clique and those who actually worked for our presidential candidate. We will not allow anyone to use our heads,” the source said.
Although he noted that the party was yet to decide on a candidate to support for the top legislative positions, he however said the retreat is likely to take a position on it.
LEADERSHIP had earlier reported that Atiku and Wike had returned to the trenches over the minority leadership of the 10th House of Representatives.
Both party leaders are supporting different PDP members-elect aspiring to emerge as leader of the minority caucus in the House of Representatives.
Findings by LEADERSHIP revealed that the duo are currently mobilising House members on the platform of the PDP and other relevant stakeholders in the main opposition party, in order to gain an advantage.
It was gathered that Atiku supports Hon. Oluwole Oke, who represents Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency of Osun State, while Wike backs Hon. Kingsley Chinda who represents Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency of Rivers State.
Wike had supported Chinda for the same position in the 9th Assembly, but Chinda lost to Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, from Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State, who enjoyed the backing of immediate past Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.
Atiku and Wike have been at loggerheads ahead of the February presidential poll, with the immediate past Rivers State governor leading four other of his colleagues, under the aegis of G5-Governors, to work against Atiku in the election.
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