Following the choice of Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa as Atiku’s running mate, slight division, grievances, reservations, stings and other forms of fractures erupted in the People’s Democratic Party which ferments the danger of the party encountering a major setback in the 2023 general elections. Since the formation of this great Party in 1998, Governor Nyeso Wike of Rivers State has been on the front burner working to solidify and galvanize PDP to a certain height of greatness and the Party’s decision to have left him to opt for Okowa as Atiku’s running mate caused shock on the body hairs of his supporters across South-South geo-political zone. This does not mean we dislike Governor Okowa but things are made to be technically handled specially in this critical time other political parties are assembling efforts to form a third force in preparation for the 2023 polls.

This situation calls for the PDP family to as a matter of urgency delegate respected stakeholders in the Party to meet with Gov Wike and other aggrieved members to heal the wound of division presently cropping up in the Party. The 2023 general election is fast approaching and PDP must not allow herself as a united entity to encounter any internal crisis capable of destabilizing her.

In this regard, therefore, all party members must be carried along to avoid the risks of losing elections in 2023. It is evident from all these piles of drawbacks that PDP is sitting on a ticking time bomb which if not professionally addressed may likely hamper her chances in the next year’s general elections.

PDP Coalition hereby calls on the Official People’s Democratic Party to immediately resolve these confronting loggerheads trying to destabilize the party. In party politics, unity is a force of action that moves mountains of victory. When unity is scuttled in a given political party, the fragility would in no small measure open doors of functions rancour and conflict of interest. PDP must be conscious of the fact that she has been struggling to revamp her structures since she lost to APC in 2015 and anything short of planting the trees of unity in the party is sure to adversely affect her come 2023.
Nigeria is passing through hardship today because the right leadership was denied to the citizens in the hands of the APC and cries for transformation had enough been heard.

We, therefore, call on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in conjunction with major Stakeholders of the Party to quickly constitute a Conflict Resolution & Reconciliation  Committee where all aggrieved members, including those who felt they were not fairly treated during primaries in all the elective positions for pacification.

Except this is done, it would be difficult for us to go to the field in 2023 and return with the giant golden trophy of victory. We all saw what happened in the recently concluded Ekiti State Governorship election where PDP got the third position to the surprise of many. As a socio-political platform, we are being realistic in speaking up when according to”  W. B Yeats” we see that things are falling apart and the centre cannot hold. PDP must not fail in 2023 and as we plan not to fail, this vital recommendation of appealing to aggrieved members must never be ignored.

PDP is a great party in Africa and her relevance must not be allowed to be sacrificed on the altar of carelessness, rifts and wranglings.

PDP, Power to the People!

Thanks.

Chief Dr Emeka Kalu,
National Coordinator,
PDP Coalition