We’ll meet aggrieved APC chiefs, says PDP chairman

The Peoples Democratic Party has begun plans to meet aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress otherwise known as the New PDP.

Though the party has been meeting with individuals to form a coalition against the ruling All Progressives Congress in the past, it was however gathered that the main opposition party had stepped up consultations following the open declaration by the members of the nPDP, who are in the APC, that the ruling party and President Muhammadu Buhari last week were marginalising them.

Some members of the nPDP being led by a former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje and a former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, had written a letter to President Buhari, demanding an urgent meeting with him.

In the letter, which was also sent to the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Baraje and Oyinlola said that the meeting with Buhari must hold within seven days.

Though Oyinlola had left the APC for the ADC, the national leadership of the PDP was said to have scheduled secret meetings with the aggrieved APC members.

The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, confirmed the desire of the party to meet the aggrieved APC members to one of our correspondents on Sunday.

Apart from the aggrieved APC members, Secondus told one of our correspondents in an interview in Abuja that the main opposition party would do everything legitimate with other opposition political parties, to wrest power from the ruling party .

He said, “Don’t forget that majority of those in the ruling party came from the PDP. They left us due to one disagreement or the other. These are eminent Nigerians who went to the APC, thinking that the APC would be a vibrant alternative and that those behind it meant well for everyone and the nation.

“However, events of the past years have shown otherwise. So, we are meeting with everyone soon. We have met some and we will also meet others. The meetings don’t need to be formal. We have known ourselves before and these people know that we won’t deceive them. Whatever we promise to do, we will do.

“Our former governors that left with their supporters are going to return to us. We will all come together to rebuild this damaged country.”

Asked when the meeting would hold and the venue, Secondus said, “We won’t give details. Political strategies are not achieved on the pages of newspapers alone. Just wait and see.”

But the Presidency on Sunday said it would not talk on the recent outburst of members of the nPDP bloc in the ruling APC against their alleged marginalisation by the present administration.

Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in an interview with one of our correspondents said the leadership of the ruling party was already addressing the issues raised by the aggrieved party chiefs.

He said it was, therefore, not appropriate for the Presidency to be talking on the matter.

“We are not talking on the issue. The party leadership is already addressing the issues raised, therefore, the Presidency will allow them to handle it. We won’t talk on the matter,” the presidential spokesman said.

However, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has assured all stakeholders that the crisis currently rocking the ruling APC will be resolved soon.

Osinbajo gave the assurance while speaking with journalists after the inauguration of President Julius Bio of Sierra Leone in Freetown on Saturday.

The transcript of the interview was made available to journalists on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande.

He said, “In politics, as you know, there will always be tensions. But the party is strong and the leadership and membership of the party are committed to ensuring that the party remains strong and continues to offer the hope and promise it has always offered and given to the people.

“I think a lot of the issues will be resolved as we go along. This is the normal order of things; there will be some disagreements, there will be those who may feel that they need certain preferences or certain things which may not have been done earlier on. I don’t think there is any major problem.”

Attempts to get a reaction from the spokesperson of the APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, were futile.

Calls to his mobile telephone number indicated that it was switched off. A response to a text message sent to him on the subject was still being awaited as of the time of filling this report (8:37pm).