The plot to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027, amidst factions and internal crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dominated discussions at yesterday’s stakeholders meeting of the Dr. Tony Aziegbemi-led faction of the party in Benin City.
Addressing members of the party from the three senatorial districts of the state, Aziegbemi, who is the chairman of the caretaker committee of his faction of the party, set the tone by briefing on the outcome of the party’s governorship election petition at the Supreme Court, alleging that the APC stole the mandate Edo people gave to the party’s candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo.
He said the PDP did all it could through its lawyers in the legal battle, but that the presidency, security institutions and judiciary allegedly colluded to deprive it of victory.
Therefore, Aziegbemi pleaded with the people of the state for their understanding of the party’s failure to retrieve the mandate, commended party members for standing firm despite the setback.
“The next thing is, how do we get Tinubu out in 2027?” Aziegbemi asked, adding, “We cannot with the way things are being run in the country”.
His remarks opened the floodgates of contributions from party members, with many of them pointing out that the internal crisis and divisions in the PDP make it impossible as a vehicle to unseat Tinubu.
“If you are saying we should remove Tinubu from office, which vehicle are we going to use? If we are going to continue, we must know where we belong in the PDP, which is divided. Unless we do that, we will be deceiving ourselves”, said Jimoh Ijegbai, ex-deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Godwin Obaseki.
Speaking on behalf women, Alberta Okonofua, spoke in the same vein and urged the PDP to put its acts together adding “If we don’t put our house properly I don’t know how we are going to oust him (Tinubu)”, noting that the party has two factions in Edo which makes the task of unseating Tinubu difficult.
Also speaking, former Campaign Director General of Asue Ighodalo Campaign Organisation, Hon. Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, said the party must devise a plan to remove the President in 2027.
On the expected by-election scheduled for August in the state, Iduoriyekemwen stated that with the institutions as they are today, I do not see how we can win any election.
“We cannot continue like this. Mr. Chairman, if we must solve the PDP problem, it must be solved at the National level. If Asue’s votes didn’t count, I see no election that will count. So, we must sit down and make a decision. The PDP we have today does not have the capacity to stand in opposition to the APC”, he added.
Addressing members of the party, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of the party in the 2023 governorship election, said Edo is a PDP State, stressing that “If the election were conducted today, PDP would win 70 per cent of the votes”.
Thanked the party faithful for standing firm and urged them to be courageous, saying that the PDP would decide what is in the best interest of Edo State.
“The leaders will meet and return to the people. Nobody would dictate to anybody. We would collectively decide where to go”, he said and thereafter announced a donation of two million naira to each of the 18 local government areas chapter of the party in the state.
