Friday 29th Oct.2021:Alot of uncertainties still cloud the scheduled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention with the mainstream developing cold feet as the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt continued to push forward its verdict on whether the planned The anxiety in the party was palpable yesterday.
Some Members, who voiced their opinion to newsmen, expressed fear that should the convention be stopped by the court, a regime of Caretaker Committee becomes imminent just as it has happened with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The last time the PDP had a national Caretaker Committee was between 2016 and 2017 when former Kaduna State governor, Ahmed Makarfi, held sway.
Those who shared this expectation argued that if the suspended national chairman, Uche Secondus, is restored, there might be insufficient time to plan another convention before the actual expiration of the Secondus-led National Working Committee (NWC) on December 9, 2021.
However, other party members were optimistic that the convention would be approved by the Appeal Court.
The Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, will today decide whether or not the PDP will go ahead with the conduct of its national convention.
A panel of three justices, headed by Haruna Simon Tsammani, reserved the ruling yesterday, after hearing arguments in the application filed by Secondus to suspend the conduct of the convention.
The convention, slated for October 30 and 31 at Eagles Square, Abuja, had been fixed by the PDP’s NWC as part of efforts to resolve the party’s internal crisis.
The convention is expected to lead to the election of new national officers. This decision did not go down well with Secondus, hence the filing of the application.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), counsel to Secondus, argued that refusing to grant his application to stop the PDP convention can be likened to “pulling off the rug under the feet of the appellant.”
He said his client would be permanently denied the right to preside over or participate in the convention if the pending applications bordering on his leadership and membership status do not go in his favour.
But the submission was opposed by Henry Bello, counsel to the first to fifth respondents, who are the PDP chairmen in five Local Government Areas of Rivers State. The chairmen are challenging Secondus’s right to resume as National Chairman of the PDP following his suspension from the party in his ward in Ikuru Town, Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers.
Chairman of the PDP National Convention Organising Committee and governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, said the party’s adherence to internal democracy and principle of fairness has sent jitters to the APC just as he predicted imminent implosion of the ruling party as soon as the convention is concluded this weekend.
Briefing journalists in Abuja, Fintiri said: “I foresee that by the end of this convention, which will be adjudged as one of the best in history, of not just the PDP but of any political party ever in this country, is going to close down most of the political parties especially APC.
“With their own democratic process, we saw what happened, their wards and states congresses are really shattered. Instead of having 36 chairmen, they have about 90. So with this convention that we’re going to deliver, I believe with the democratic process and procedures that we have followed diligently, it is going to open floodgate for all of them to come in.”
He said the level of insecurity coupled with the failure of the APC-led government to manage the economy has made most Nigerians to lose hope in the APC.
“Everybody is not just looking up to PDP to rescue them, they are looking at PDP as a platform that will bring in a new government in 2023.”
In a separate remark, Vice Chairman of the National Convention Organising Committee and governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, he called on Nigerians to support PDP in its bid to rescue the country.
When asked if the PDP was worried that the judgment might impact on the party’s convention, Fintiri said: “Not at all because we have mechanism internally to always take up issues and you know that the PDP strives better in turbulent periods.
“If you look at the prayers of the suspended chairman, he is praying that the convention be suspended. At the same time, he is also asking for him to come and preside over the convention. So, it tells you that the convention is not tied around one individual.
“On what would happen if the judgment goes against the PDP and the convention, we will go back to the drawing board and call NEC and take our decision. If we are told not to have the convention, the NEC still remains the highest decision body of the party. But if we eventually get into the convention, I think the convention also has the superior power to take decisions on behalf of the party.”
