Follow Us on Google
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tanimu Turaki, has said former president, Goodluck Jonathan, remains a member of the opposition party.
Turaki, who stated this, after a meeting between the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) said Jonathan would become more active in the affairs of the party in the coming days.
The PDP explained that the meeting was for the NWC to brief the former president on development in the party, including its prospects and challenges, in the run-up to the 2027 general election.
Jonathan, who led the country on the platform of the PDP, between 2010 to 2015, when the opposition party was defeated by the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been conspicuously absent from the activities of the party.
But recently, there have been speculations about plans to draft the Bayelsa-born former Nigerian leader into the 2027 presidential contest.
Turaki noted Jonathan assured members of the NWC, that the PDP has done so much for him, as such he feels obligated to the party.
“We came this evening to visit one of our very important leader, former president of Nigeria, President Ebele Jonathan, First to introduce members of the newly elected National Working Committee to him, and then to tell him what we have been doing since our election in the National Convention that was held last November in Ibadan.
“We have briefed him on the state of the party, the challenges, the prospects, and in this visit, we are accompanied by former governors, members of the Board of Trustees, founding fathers and founding mothers, Forum of State Chairmen, in addition to other leaders of the party that also includes former ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We have solicited, as usual, for his support, for his guidance, for his advice, as always. And we have his assurance that he is still a card-carrying member of the People’s Democratic Party, he is still active, and will even be more active these days in the activities and affairs of the People’s Democratic Party.
“And he has assured us that PDP has done everything for him that can be done to an individual, and that he still feels that he remains obligated to PDP. And his remarks and statements are not only reassuring, but indeed they are very, very encouraging as we begin to prepare for elections, off-season elections in Ekiti and Osun this year and 2027 general elections.”
Responding to calls for political solutions to the crisis rocking the party, he noted that the party believes that after the legal battles, there would be a need for everyone to come together.
He added that after the legal battles, the PDP leadership would sit with aggrieved members, who are genuinely interested in reconciliation.
The party has been polarized over tussle for the control of party machinery between PDP Governors, led by Bauchi governor, Bala Mohammed, and Oyo governor, Seyi Makinde and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
There are currently several court cases on the validity of the National Convention, where the Turaki led NWC, was elected, last November.
Nonetheless, Turaki said “we believe that even after these matters are resolved one way or another by the courts, that we’ll still come back, those that are still useful to this party. Those that have shown remorse, remarkable remorse and we are willing to now continue to be loyal party men and women, we will carry them along.
“We need to bring them back. Those that are aggrieved, genuinely. Those that are aggrieved otherwise, we will bring them back, because we believe that we need all hands to be on deck as far as the battle ahead for us is concerned. We will sit in a round table with those that are willing and genuinely interested in reconciliation.”
