PDP will survive leadership crisis, says Turaki

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Interim National Working Committee (INWC), Tanimu Turaki, has said the opposition party will not die despite its current travails.

Turaki, who spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja on Thursday, said there is nothing unusual in the current leadership crisis rocking the PDP. He noted that the opposition party had faced similar challenges in the past.

The party leader, while explaining that the stakeholders’ meeting was convened to dissect the judgment of a Federal High Court on a suit filed by the Senator Adolphus Wabara-led Board of Trustees (BoT), said it was also aimed at taking a position on the way forward.

The PDP has been polarised, with the Turaki-led INWC and the Abdulraham Mohammed-led National Working Committee (NWC) laying claim to the leadership of the opposition party.

While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognises the Mohammed-led NWC as the authentic leadership of the PDP, the Wabara-led BoT filed a suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to compel the electoral body to recognise the Turaki leadership.

However, the court, in its verdict, upheld the recognition of the Mohammed leadership by INEC.

Nevertheless, Turaki stated: “For us in PDP, we have seen all seasons. We have seen the good times, we have also seen the bad times.

“We have seen days of prosperity, just as we have also seen days of adversity. We have seen successes, and we have seen challenges, and for us, the kind of challenge that the People’s Democratic Party is facing today is not something, unfortunately, that is new to us.”

Turaki, who recalled that the PDP was able to overcome its leadership challenge in the past because of its unity, added that “those who were there and those who were conversant with what happened during that period of serious challenge will appreciate that what we are now witnessing in our party is even a child’s play.”

Similarly, the BoT Secretary, Babangida Aliyu, admonished PDP members to view the current situation in the party as temporary, noting that some persons who thought they could kill the opposition party by defecting to other platforms are the ones suffering.

According to him, “part of my happiness is that those who thought they could kill PDP by running away to another party, they are the ones now who are suffering more than even what we are going through. In their case, they don’t even know what is there on the ground for them.

“It is unfortunate that people are not patient enough. It is unfortunate that some people try to play god by taking decisions that really belongs to God.

“We want people to be alive to see when we succeed. We will not laugh at them, but at least they will also learn some lessons as we go along.”