• Claims some persons want opposition party dead

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tanimu Turaki, has said the opposition party was at crossroads, noting that some persons were bent on killing the party.

At a handing over ceremony by the immediate past national chairman, Umar Damagum, to the new NWC in Abuja, yesterday, he stated that those  orchestrating the collapse of the PDP were doing so because they consider it as a threat.

He, however, assured that the new NWC would restore the party’s winning spirit.

“We will take the party back to the people. There will be no impunity, and there will be no injustice,” Turaki said.

The new PDP helmsman noted that the party was presently at a crossroads because some people felt it must be killed, stating, however, that democracy thrives when multi-party is allowed.

While stating that the new NWC would study the handover note as a guide for his administration, Turaki called for the cooperation and support of the former NWC members.

“We’re today at a crossroads because we’re in a situation where some believe that the PDP must be killed, the PDP must be destroyed, the PDP must be isolated because of the threat we pose. But the fact remains that in a democracy, you should live and let others live.

“We have promised, since our assumption of office, that we’re taking this party back to the Nigerian people. This party is called the people’s party, and if it’s the people’s party, then we must take it back to the people. We said there would be no impunity, no injustice, a level playing field, transparency and above all, fairness.”

Damagum, in his speech, stated that the PDP, despite its travails, still remains the party to beat in the country, hence the All Progressives Congress (APC) is unsettled.

He assured that the party will surmount its current challenges. According to him, in spite of the current challenges, the future of PDP remains bright, insisting that the party will recover from its crisis that had made it to lose some governors to the ruling party.

“We are a party to beat; that is why they are trying to frustrate us. We are people of faith. God is a just God and He does not support injustice. You may have temporary respite through your injustices, but when God’s justice descends on you, then you realise that He alone is absolute.”

Turaki, while briefing journalists, after the meeting of the NWC said the party organ has sent certificates of expulsion to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike and others expelled at the party’s national convention in Ibadan last month.

The PDP has been embroiled in crisis in the aftermath  of the  2023 polls with some governors led by Mohammed Bala and Seyi Makinde on the one hand and Nyesom Wike on the other hand locked in supremacy tussle over control of party machinery, ahead of the 2027 polls.

The crisis escalated after a Federal High Court in Abuja, a judgment in a suit filed by three aggrieved PDP members – Austin Nwachukwu, Nnanna Amah and George Turnah, allies of the FCT Minister, directed the opposition party to halt plans for its November 15 and 16 National Convention  over  non-compliance with extant rules. 

However, the party proceeded with the convention, following an ex parte motion by an Oyo State High Court,  which directed the opposition to go ahead with the exercise.

The  highpoint of the convention was the dissolution of the NWC and the subsequent election of a new one, with Turaki as national chairman.