PDP Board of Trustees, NWC meet over Wike’s agenda for peace

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) and the National Working Committee (NWC) are scheduled to hold separate meetings on Wednesday to mediate in the lingering post-convention crisis within the party.

RELIABLESOURCENG.COM gathered that the BoT meeting would consider demands of the aggrieved Wike-led camp. 

The Wike camp at their meeting on Sunday, in Abuja, was said to have insisted on the removal of the National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.

According to sources within the party’s national secretariat, the Wike group also wants Atiku to sign an undertaking that he would spend only one term in office before they pledge their support for him. 

Also, on the list of demands to be considered by the BoT are that all members of the Wike team will be considered for appointment should the party win the presidential election next year.

The meeting will provide the setting for a face-to-face parley that may eventually lead to the pacification of Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike and his group by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the PDP.

READ: BREAKING: Atiku shuns Wike, picks Okowa as running mate

There has been no love lost between Wike and Abubakar over the process that led to the nomination of the latter’s running mate, governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa.

The PDP has been struggling to stay united since it concluded its primary in May to elect the presidential standard bearer and then the candidate side-stepping Wike, favoured by a majority in the party, to announce Okowa as running mate.

The BoT Chairman, Walid Jibrin, said in a statement that the Board meeting would consider all the issues and come up with appropriate recommendations. 

“The BoT is the highest advisory body and conscience of the party. After the BoT meeting, we will meet with Wike and all aggrieved members and all past presidential aspirants. It is my prayer as Chairman of BoT that the PDP will remain strong to win all elections in 2023,” he said.

Jibrin said they were concerned that “the election of Atiku Abubakar as our presidential candidate and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as a vice presidential candidate is unnecessarily causing confusion among some PDP members.

“I want to advise all BoT members in the Prof Jerry Gana group to attend the BoT meeting on Wednesday to come out with a common stance of the BoT. After the BoT meeting, we will meet with Atiku, Okowa and Wike to finally resolve the matter to make PDP stronger and very united and enable Atiku and Okowa to win the election hands down.”

The issue of Ayu’s resignation has been on the front burner because of a reported gentleman agreement, which had requested that Ayu should resign should the presidential candidate of the party emanate from the North, but following the emergence of Atiku, it was learnt that the song changed to allow Ayu stay in office till the conclusion of the general elections.

Also, the organ in charge of the day-to-day running of the PDP, the National Working Committee (NWC), has also scheduled a crucial meeting for Wednesday. The terms of the Wike camp are said to have attracted concerns from NWC members. 

READ: BREAKING: Atiku beats Wike to clinch PDP presidential ticket

It was observed that many of the NWC members had engaged one another in informal consultation ahead of the meeting. According to the party’s constitution, the only bodies empowered to cause the removal of the national chairman are the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Convention.

Rising from a closed-door emergency meeting held at the Rivers State governor’s lodge in Abuja on Sunday, it was gathered that there were overtures for the two camps – Wike and Atiku – to mend fences and work for the success of the party.

Those at the meeting included Governors Wike, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).

Others were former governors Donald Duke (Cross River), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), and Ibrahim Idris (Kogi) and Jonah Jang (Plateau).

Philip Aduda, Senate minority leader, was also at the meeting with some members of the PDP National Assembly caucus. A member of the party’s NWC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters that none of the serving or former governors was leaving the party as was being rumoured.

He said all the party chieftains resolved to work together to address whatever internal crisis exists and support the party and the candidates towards victory in the 2023 elections.