From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The reconciliation meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, in Port Harcourt, yesterday, was inconclusive.
BoT said talks on the issues threatening the unity and progress of the party would continue they return to Abuja.
The meeting was part of efforts to resolve the post-presidential primary crisis plaguing the party.
Rivers State governor is at the centre of the crisis following his call for the resignation of the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.
BoT led by its acting chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, alongside six other members (including two women) had a closed door meeting with governor Wike and some state PDP chieftains that lasted for four hours.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the meeting, which lasted for several hours, Senator Wabara said it was the first time the BoT had come to see Governor Wike over the lingering internal squabble.
Senator Wabara, who was former President of the Nigerian Senate, said the meeting afforded them the opportunity to properly understand the concerns of Governor Wike and are better informed about the crisis.
He informed that they were taking what they had gathered from the Rivers State governor back to the larger BoT house in Abuja to take a position.
He said: “We have been rubbing minds for the past four hours with His Excellency, the performing governor of Rivers State, Mr. Project. We have not concluded. You know, it is always easy to destroy. But, to make peace takes sometime.
“We are better informed. We have gotten some information. Every coin has two sides. We have been briefed by His Excellency. We will go back to Abuja to digest all that we have gathered from His Excellency, very fine talks. But, one very fact is that PDP family still remains one. We are still under that umbrella called PDP. By the very special grace of God, we will end up very victorious and we will end up at the Villa in 2023, with his cooperation and support of all the other four of them.
“In concrete terms, it’s work in progress. And like I said, we will get there. We will definitely get there. He (Wike) is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the party. We came to see one of ours. We rubbed minds; we’ll find solution to all the problems very soon.
“Presidential campaigns have started and it is the policy if our great party that we all go home and campaign. Everyone of us is from one zone or there other. Our governor here (Wike) is a PDP governor. Even if he does not come out to campaign, he has already campaigned with all the projects he has given to Rivers State and Nigeria.
“I am an acting chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party. I do not have the exclusiveness to stand here and tell you what the Board of Trustees will come up with. So, we have come here; we are going back and we would convene a meeting of the Board of Trustees and brief them. That’s when Nigerians will hear where the Board of Trustees stands. Since it us an advisory body, and conscience of the party, we would be there to tell the party the truth and nothing but the truth and findings.”
Senator Wabara, who described governor Wike as an inestimable asset to the PDP, pointed out that ahead of the 2023 general elections, the governor’s infrastructural development in Rivers State is already campaigning for the party.
In his speech, Governor Wike said what is important to all of them is to ensure that the unity of the party is not endangered.
“To add to what the chairman of the Board of Trustees has said, it very important to have unity, even if it takes you longer days. What is important is the house is united.
“So, the issue of whether we achieved peace today or not, is immaterial. What matters is at the end of the day, that PDP is united house. I think that is the message he (Wabara) is conveying.”
Governor Wike has said again that he would not leave the party, and he was hopeful the internal crisis would be resolved.
“And we have said repeatedly that we are not leaving the party. We have said so. But, that does not mean that there are no internal issues that ought to be sorted out. I think what they (BoT) are here for is to see how they can sort out some internal issues.
On whether he was hopeful the internal crisis would be resolved, Wike replied: “Once you are alive, why won’t you be hopeful. It’s only a dead person that is not hopeful. So, being alive means you are hopeful.”
The meeting had Dr. Ibrahim Idris, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), Dame Dr. Esther Uduehi and Hajiya Zainab Maina on the BoT delegation.
On the part of Governor Wike, were the Rivers State PDP chairman, ambassador Desmond Akawor, Rivers Elders Forum chairman, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba, former deputy speaker of House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Chibudom Nwuche, Senator Adawari Pepple, Elder Emmanuel Anyanwu, Senator Olaka Nwogu and Dr. Sam Sam Jaja.