PDP consults over PDM registration Barely 24 hours into the registration of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), a party believed to have been floated by aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), there are indications that fear has gripped top leaders of the PDP over possible disintegration of the ruling party. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday registered the PDM and the Independent Democrats (ID), a move analysts said would further open the existing political space and make the PDP to get serious with governance. Sunday Independent can confirm that some leaders of the PDP are now making wide consultations on the likely threat posed by the emergence of the PDM. A top member of the PDP told our correspondent under condition of anonymity on Saturday that the registration of PDM as a political party came to them as a surprise since the alleged promoters are indiders. “What was even more troubling is that the promoters of the new party can be described as part of the backbone of our party,” the source said. The source added that the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) under Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the National Executive Committee (NEC), the Board of Trustees (BOT) as well as the presidency, have been making series of consultations on what next to do about the troubling news that some of its governors were actually behind the new party. According to the source, at the end of the consultations expected to take place with the party’s topmost leadership and the office of President Goodluck Jonathan, the party would make a major pronouncement on any party member found to have links with the new party. The source added that the PDP may consider the option of outright expulsion of any of its members, especially the five governors, who have been making political consultations with some leaders lately. The five governors are also believed to be the among the arrowhead of the new party and on Saturday, this newspaper gathered that the PDP leadership had set machinery in motion to investigate the actual involvement of the alleged PDP governors in the registration of the PDM. The PDP governors whose names have come up in the PDM registration include Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Taraba State governor. But an official of the PDP NWC who would not want to speak to Sunday Independent on what the party is trying to do, hinted on Saturday that “consultation was on top gear with the appropriate authorities.” However, some PDP chieftains have boasted that the coming of PDM as a party will not dwindle the political fortune of the ruling party in 2015. Instead, they said the emerging PDM would lead to “the exit of those that have been creating problems for the PDP.” The PDM which was registered on Friday, August 16, is believed to have at least nine PDP governors behind it. Though the governors have not openly declared for the party, they have nonetheless refused to deny the story of their involvement in the party. Even some aides of the governors have made comments that suggested that they are at home with the new developments. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar whose associates are also believed to be behind the registration had come out to say that the governors or other politicians have the right to association in line with the constitution of the country. But the All Progressives Congress (APC), which analysts thought would be the chief beneficiary of the PDP crisis, said it doubted that some PDP governors were behind the new party. It would be recalled that there have been reports of some PDP governors having romance with the APC and were only waiting for the right moment to announce for the APC. When Sunday Independent sought the reaction of Alhaji Lai Mohammed, interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC that some of the PDP governors who many thought would join the APC fold have founded their own party, he said: “That was your thinking. Have they told you they are in PDM now? We are not worried about the emergence of PDM. If anybody wants to join APC, they are welcome,” he said. Meanwhile, the PDM which mission statement made no pretence that it was out for the top job in the country, enumerated its mission state for the country on Saturday. The mission statement read in parts: “That the nature, rate and direction of development of any nation is determined primarily by the people and not by capital or material resources alone. In other words, people constitute the ultimate basis for a nation’s wealth. We are convinced that a nation that fails to develop its people cannot develop anything else; “That real development or nation-building is nothing else but the actualisation of the creative capacity of the citizens of any nation to transform available natural resources of that nation into valuable goods and services. This has to be done through the application of the creative talents and the labour power of citizens as a whole. This has been the only tested way to achieve and sustain self-reliance and development; “That the enabling environment for national development must be on the basis of National Unity, the Rule of Law, Democracy and Human Rights,” among others It added that, “based on the enumerated principles and determined will of our members, the PDM has a common vision of hope; the hope that the Nigerian State can still be developed into a modern nation; a nation that will possess real capability to harness her natural resources for the upliftment of the welfare of her people; a nation that will be just, peaceful and politically stable; a nation which will be capable of defending her interests anywhere and everywhere and command international respect; a nation in which all citizens will have the opportunity to lead useful and satisfactory lives.”
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 07:21:21 +0000
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