Uche Secondus
By Dirisu Yakubu
ABUJA- Ahead of the Presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) slated for October, the leadership of the party has initiated moves to curtail a possible post-convention crisis, given the growing number of aspirants for the Office of the President in the 2019 election.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the party led by Prince Uche Secondus, late Wednesday night, met with 12 of the Presidential aspirants at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja. The meeting which had in attendance prominent aspirants including former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, Tanimu Turaki and former governors of Sokoto, Kaduna, Plateau and Kano State-Attahiru Bafarawa, Ahmed Makarfi, Jonah Jang and Ibrahim Shekarau respectively, amongst others, according to party sources, succeeded in having the contenders sworn to a single goal.
According to the source who pleaded anonymity, the party prevailed on the Presidential hopefuls to eschew negative utterances capable of hurting the electoral fortune of the PDP in the 2019 elections.
“By and large, we reminded them (aspirants) that whatever happens to the party, happen to all of us. We charged them to be civil in their utterances and reminded them that the world is watching how the party will come up with its Presidential candidate.
“Perhaps, the biggest take-away from the meeting was the agreement entered into by all the aspirants to support whoever emerges winner of the sole ticket after the primaries. They assured us that they would stay put in the party regardless of the outcome of the primary election,” he said.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Saraki noted that all aspirants decided to meet with the party leadership primarily to promote oneness of purpose and to ensure Nigerians of the primacy of national interest at all times.
He stated, “We came here to promote unity, cooperation and to stay focused on our message to Nigerians. We are here to show that our party, the PDP is united because for us, what matters are the Nigerian people and not our individual interests.”
On his part, the lawmaker representing Kano Central District at the National Assembly and former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, again condemned the events that culminated in his formal Presidential declaration in Abuja on Wednesday. Bemoaning what he called a growing culture of impunity in the nation’s polity, the lawmaker said the level of political intolerance in the country today is worse compared to 2015.
“It (non-approval of the use of Eagle Square) was a sad day for democracy. We all thought that the days of impunity were over but Nigerians can now see that they are worse. In 2015, I requested for Eagle Square but they decided to give us the (old) Parade ground. This time around, we requested for Eagles Square. We paid and followed the procedures but they said no. So we requested for the Parade ground which they gave us in 2015 but it was not granted,” recalled Kwankwaso.
Thus far, 13 aspirants are gunning for the sole ticket of the PDP as the party insists it would not compel the contenders to adopt one of them as a consensus candidate.
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