The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said its former presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and those of Labour Party and of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, respectively, are discussing the possibility of a merger to defeat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
The PDP deputy national publicity secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who stated this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, said the three opposition candidates in the last election would put personal interests aside and form a formidable alliance to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the next presidential election.
Abdullahi said PDP would have defeated APC in 2023 but for the poor handling of conflicts within the party by the past leadership.
He said high-ranking chieftains like former Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike, Kwankwaso and Obi would not have worked against the party nor left.
Talks of a merger or alliance among the 2023 presidential candidates has been rife following meetings between Atiku and Obi on the one hand, and the visit of former Kaduna Governor, Nasir el-Rufai to Atiku.
Obi and Kwankwaso, top PDP leaders, left the party months before the 2023 poll citing irreconcilable differences.
But speaking on the prospects of an alliance or merger, the deputy PDP spokesman said “This APC said they defeated us with one million plus (votes), just one of these names that I mentioned would have covered that gap for us and we would have been in power today and certainly Nigerians would not have been confronted with this despair and despondency in the land.”
Asked if the PDP is trying to get Obi, Kwankwaso, Wike and others back into the party, Abdullahi said, “Sure, discussion is ongoing. You will see Peter Obi discussing with Atiku, you will see Peter Obi meeting with (Nasir) El-Rufai.
“Party management is a very difficult thing and we are doing the best in the quagmire that we have found ourselves. Rest assured, there would light at the end of the tunnel. We have learnt our lessons in a bitter way.”
Recall that APC’s Bola Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election with 8,794,726.
While Atiku, who was competing in his sixth presidential election, got 6,984,520 votes, Obi, a first-time contestant, secured an unprecedented 6,101,533.
Kwankwaso came fourth with 1,496,687 votes, claiming victory in his state of Kano.
Asked what would happen if Obi and the others returned to the PDP, he said, “One of them would concede for the other and then we would have a direction.
“Our concern as a party and to these people that I have mentioned is to ensure that we salvage Nigerians from this despair and despondency, between maladies of hunger and frightening insecurity in the land. You could see cluelessness and ineptitude on the part of these people managing this country.”
The PDP chieftain said salvaging Nigerians out of the present hardship is more important than the individual ambitions of the trio.
He said, “Atiku is saying if it is better for him to get Nigeria out of this hopelessness, he would do so.
“He (Atiku) must not be in the race. Atiku is saying that it is an entitlement to him as a democrat; the constitution provides for him that he could contest at any time.
“What he is trying to say is that (there) is no ceiling stopping him from contesting. That is his fundamental democratic right but he is not saying that he will force it on the throat of the party or the country.
“I am telling you clearly: Peter Obi is suitably qualified; he can aspire and we will support him if he gets the ticket. Atiku is suitably qualified and if he gets the ticket, we will rally behind him and give him the desired support to salvage Nigerians out of this situation,” he said.
PDP Summons Wike, Says His Threat Against Party’s Govs Disappointing
Abdullahi also disclosed that the party has written a letter to Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike to appear before its recently constituted Disciplinary Committee to answer petitions against him over anti-party activities.
He also described as disappointing Wike’s recent threat of setting political fire in states of PDP governors who have declared support for Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara to be handed the state’s party structure.
Deputy national publicity secretary said Wike should have managed his words carefully.
Recall that PDP recently inaugurated a Disciplinary Committees headed by former minister of foreign affairs, High Chief Tom Ikimi.
But, shortly after the committee’s inauguration, former national vice chairman of PDP and a member of the committee, Chief Bode George, a Wike ally, resigned from the committee claiming that it was lopsided.
However, Wike had over the weekend threatened to cause political crisis in the respective states of the governors who decide support Fubara.
Wike’s threat came as a response to a declaration of support for Fubara by the PDP governors during their recent meeting in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.
The FCT minister and Fubara, his estranged successor, have been locked in a running political battle for the party’s structure in the state.
However, while addressing PDP stakeholders during the party state congress in Port Harcourt at the weekend, Wike said: “Let me assure you, not while we live, will anybody take away the PDP structure from us.
“Let me tell you people; I hear that there are some governors who said they will take away the structure and give to somebody. I pity those governors because I will put fire in their states.
“When God has given you peace, you said you don’t want peace; whatever you see, you take.”
Reacting to a question on Wike comments, the deputy national publicity secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said Wike is one of those who party members have written petitions against for Anti-party activities adding that the committee “has written him a letter inviting him over,” to appear before them.
“We have received petitions with regards to anti-party on those sabotaging the party all through the primaries leading up to where we are today. Those petitions have been aggregated across the country.”
When specifically about petitions against Wike, he revealed that party members felt Wike should not have gotten this far still as a member of the party and they have been writing to the party.
He added, “Nyesom Wike is one of the persons expected to face that committee which is headed by no less a person than High Chief Tom Ikimi.”
He said the current party leadership should be given credit for “being able to navigate the waters by not sanctioning people without giving them an opportunity of fair hearing” as against what happened under the immediate past chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
On the recent threat by Wike against governors over the River Crisis, Abdullahi said “He (Wike) was referring to something and it was clear for everybody to see that he was referring to the governor of Bauchi State over his interference in the congress in the determination of the congress in Rivers State.
“I don’t know if Wike will be fair to himself if he expects the governor of Bauchi, who is the chairman of the governor’s forum and the leader of the PDP going forward to keep quiet in the issues affecting Rivers State because that is one of our states and we worked so hard to get that state. Wike should have been able to manage his words carefully.
“It was a very disappointing remark, we were not expecting him to say that and we are not with him on that.”
When asked if the party was on the side of Bauchi State governor on the matter he said, “We are with Wike and everybody. What we are saying is that that is a very bad statement for Wike to make and we are not in support of it.’
On resolving the crisis in the party, he said PDP has handled more delicate issues in the past, adding that the current impasse is “one of them and we will go past it.’
