Anenih: PDM Not A Political Party, Faults Registration The chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, has said that the newly-registered Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) is not a political party and should not have been registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as one. Anenih, who is a leader of the PDM, stated this in a statement issued in Abuja, as he maintained that leaders of the Movement never planned to transform it into a political party as has been done now. “Our PDM is not a political party”, he said, maintaining that the Movement, which worked with other political associations to form the PDP in 1998 remained an integral part of the ruling party. Anenih therefore urged concerned members to treat what he described as the mischievous registration of the PDM as a political trickery, which, according to him, would not endure the test of time. “Reports about the registration of Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) as a political party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have inundated the polity; and because of my leading role in the formation and nurturing of the Movement, concerned members of the Movement have contacted me to confirm if it was our PDM that has witnessed the transformation. “After in-depth investigations and extensive consultations with a wide spectrum of the membership and leadership of the PDM, which is just like a pressure group within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I consider it moral to use this medium to clarify that the PDM, which some persons, purporting to be interim leaders, secretly and mischievously promoted and succeeded in registering with INEC to operate as a political party, is not our PDM that worked with other political associations to form the PDP in 1998. “For the avoidance of doubt, the PDM, which we collectively envisioned under the leadership of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, remains an integral part of the PDP, whose Board of Trustees, I currently chair by the grace of God and the consensus of founding fathers and leaders of our great party. “I hereby wish to urge those who look up to me for guidance in this circumstance to remain steadfast with me in the task of building a much more united and formidable PDP and to discountenance the registration and treat it as a political trickery which will not survive the test of time. “Members of the Peoples Democratic Movement, which is working for the unity and success of the PDP and the Federal Government under the able leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, should not panic. They should, instead, see it as an attempt to undercut our PDM, which was never intended to be and should not be a registered political party within and against the PDP,” Anenih said in the statement. His position is in tandem with that of another leader of the PDM, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, who said penultimate weekend that the PDM was not meant to be a political party, but floated to serve as a bridge, meeting point and unifying forum for Nigerians from all walks of life. “PDM was never proposed to become a political party; it was established to stand as a bridge linking the northern and southern parts of the country and between people in different political parties; a meeting point for people in different religions and tribes; a unifying forum for Nigerians from all walks of life,” Kwande had said. All these are coming as PDP zonal leaders, under the chairmanship of Senator Abubakar Mahdi, had, at the end of an expanded meeting last Thursday in Abuja, disowned the new party, under the interim chairmanship of Alhaji Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim. They lamented what they described as the secret conversion of the Movement into a political party against the original plan of its founding leaders , insisting that they remained members of PDM as a pressure group within the PDP. Senator Abubakar Mahdi (Chairman), Senator Ifeanyi Araraume (Southeast leader), Alhaji Abdullahi Abdulkadir Mohammed (Northwest leader), Chief Ejiofor Onyia (South/South leader), Kabiru Bawa (Northeast), Dr. Bala Ahmed Tafida (North Central leader), Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, Alhaji Shuaibu Abdullahi and Chief Oluponnle Ebo, signed the communiqué of the meeting of the movement (not party), which was called by the chairman to brief members on the registration of the movement as a political party. Though Dubem Onyia was listed on the communiqué, he did not append his signature. Describing as “unacceptable” a situation where “Founding Fathers, National Caucus, Zonal Leaders and State Management Committees were not consulted”, they therefore resolved that “they are also not part of the registered party as they remain members of PDM as a pressure group within PDP.” They however reassured PDM members across the country that “the vision of the founding fathers should not and would not be compromised without consultation and their consent.” But former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is one of the leaders of the PDM and is being suspected of funding the newly-registered party, had acknowledged that the promoters of the new party are his associates though that he maintained that he remained a member of the PDP.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 22:24:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015