Abuja: Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has branded the Tanimu Turaki-led Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) decision to challenge the Court of Appeal’s ruling on party leadership at the Supreme Court as a hollow and baseless pursuit, insisting the move lacks merit and will not stand.
Wike made the remarks Friday night after inspecting the Valodrome, venue of the PDP National Convention set for March 29-30.
The Turaki-led National Executive Committee (NEC) had, on Friday, unanimously ratified the decision of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to appeal the appellate court judgment.
Reacting, Wike described the move as “baseless”, stressing that it would have no effect on the planned national convention of the party.
According to him, the convention will proceed, while efforts to resolve internal disputes will continue afterwards.
“I have always said that in any group, there will be grievances. You cannot expect that in a family of two or three people, everyone will always be satisfied, let alone a party with millions of members.
“There will always be a few who are not happy. We have agreed to sit down with them, understand their concerns and see how we can accommodate them. What is most important is the overall interest of the party,” he said.
The minister said that PDP would shock Nigerians by using the 2027 general elections to show its strength.
“PDP is a very large party. Look at the umbrella; it is wide enough to accommodate everyone,” he said.
On the zoning arrangement, Wike confirmed that positions had already been allocated across zones.
“We have already zoned our positions within the party. Every geopolitical zone has its own designated slots, with the presidency zoned to the South and the chairmanship allotted to the North. For example, the Secretary and the Treasurer positions have also been distributed among other zones accordingly.”
“We believe this consensus arrangement will make the process easier.
“For the first time, PDP is presenting a unified front, rather than the usual ‘unity list’ that often reflects internal divisions,” he said.
He explained that the visit to the stadium was to assess the final arrangements for the convention, which, he said, was about 95 per cent ready.
“Seating arrangements for all states have been completed, and the VIP section is ready,” Wike said.
Wike was accompanied by the Chairman of the National Convention Planning Committee, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, the PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, and the Chairman of the National Caretaker Working Committee (NCWC), Mohammed Abdulrahman.
Others were: the National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu; other members of NCWC; the Chairman of the Rivers Elders’ Council, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba; and the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche.