While the crisis currently rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues heating up at the national level, a number of state chapters of the party have assured National Chairman Bamanga Tukur and President Goodluck Jonathan that the breakaway faction of the party is unwelcome in their states.
In Kogi State, Chairman of the chapter of the party, Alhaji Hassan Salau denied that some aggrieved members are prepared to join the breakaway faction or that the faction would open a new office in Lokoja, the state capital.
Similarly, Special Adviser to the State Governor on Media and Strategy, Jacob Edi assured that the administration of Captain Idris Wada has such rapport with members of the party in the state that no faction can penetrate.
“This administration is focused and would never be distracted in it transformation programme for the people of the state,” Edi said. “We at the government level wish them [the ‘new’ PDP] well in their decision and let them continue to wallow in beeline ignorance.”
However, although Governor of the state, Captain Idris Wada is clearly unsympathetic to the breakaway faction, some aggrieved members of the party are truly planning to join the ‘new’ PDP.
According to a member of the ‘new’ PDP who spoke anonymously, the Kogi State members of the party who have identified with the breakaway faction are those bothered by the poor governorship performance of Captain Wada.
“We appreciate the fact that the governor will have to learn the rope in the administration of the state,” he said. “But we think one year should have been enough for the learning process.”
There are also those who believe they worked hard to enthrone PDP as the ruling party in the state yet their efforts have gone largely unrewarded.
“We made this government what it is today, but instead of we benefiting from the fruit of our labour, this administration prefers bringing those who have never cast vote in the state before and made them one thing or the other in the state,” one of them said.
In Bayelsa State, the leadership of the party debunked any knowledge of the existence of a ‘new’ PDP in the state, saying its members are marching ahead in unison to fulfil the destiny of the party.
According to Secretary of PDP in the state, Hon. Keku Godpower, the state chapter of the PDP is not factionalized and will continue to back President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor of the state, Hon. Seriake Dickson and the national leadership of the party.
“Our attention has been drawn to the rumour making the rounds that our great party, the PDP, now has a new faction in Bayelsa State. We want to make it abundantly clear that there is nothing like that in the state,” Godpower wrote in a statement.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State remains one and indivisible body, marching ahead spiritedly to fulfil its destiny as laid down by the founding fathers”
“We are one family resolute in the basic ideals of democracy, leadership and development of our people. We are not factionalized and no amount of rumour mongering, insinuation or even incitement will change the situation because we have elected long ago to be democrats in all our ways and to be steadfast to the basic principles of that leadership entails.”
He added that that the party is resolutely behind Jonathan, Dickson and the national leadership of the party, recalling that only on Monday, the Bayelsa chapter of PDP joined other state chairmen in Abuja to affirm loyalty and outright support to the Bamangar Tukur leadership.
“We stand by this conviction as a matter of honour and decency. We urge all our members to continue to support the PDP and its sole leadership in the state and at other levels for the purpose of further entrenching democracy in our country,” he went on.
“It is by so doing that we can also benefit more from the dividends of good governance as facilitated by democracy and as we have also witnessed in Bayelsa State in particular and the nation in general. We must stand up for something as our conscience could lead us and indeed we must stand up to be counted that we are guided by what is right and never by any inordinate ambition. We are conscious of the greater good to us when we continue to co-exist in an atmosphere of peace and unity we have in the state.”
Similarly, the Kaduna state chapter of the party also dismissed media reports that a faction had joined the new PDP, saying such move is impossible because there is no division in the state chapter.
According to State Chairman of the party, Mr. Abubakar Haruna, allegations of division made by former state chairman, Mr. Yaro Makama and a former lawmaker, Gideon Morik are “totally untrue” and a subtle move by a group of opportunists to destabilise the party.
“The Kaduna State chapter of the party remains solidly behind the leadership of Bamanga Tukur as National Chairman of the party and Namadi Sambo as the leader of the party in the North,” Haruna said, branding proponents of division in the group as self-centred politicians bent on discrediting Vice President Namadi Sambo over their insatiable quest for patronage and accumulation of wealth, and also criticising the governors who walked out on President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo at the recent PDP Special Convention for “insubordination and disrespect to the constituted authority.”
