Amid deepening crisis, Nigeria’s main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says it remains in the best position to end the dominance of the APC in the country’s political space.
The party, in its first official statement since the resignation of seven of its National Working Committee (NWC) members on Tuesday, said it has activated a conflict resolution mechanism to end raging discord among its members.
With the resignation of NWC members and some of its Board of Trustees members, the PDP’s internal rumblings took another turn, threatening its chances against the ruling APC in the 2023 General Elections.
As disclosed by a source within its leadership, the resignation of the party’s national officers came after their consistent questioning of the competence of the party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus.
Tailing the party’s Governors’ Forum earlier stance, the PDP spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, in the statement on Wednesday, admitted to the disarray in the party and promised an atmosphere that will continue to promote stability.
“The NWC further assures all members of the party that it is taking urgent steps to ensure decisions that will strengthen our great party for the task ahead, particularly at this time Nigerians are looking up to the PDP for direction and solutions.
“Against this backdrop, the NWC urges all members to remain calm while assuring that the PDP remains stable as we work with the majority of Nigerians to end the inept administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC), come 2023,” Mr Ologbondiyan said.
On the ground of complaints against Mr Secondus leadership, at least two governors have defected from the main opposition party to the ruling APC between January and July 2021.
In May, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State joined his Ebonyi State counterpart, David Umahi, who had defected to the APC six months earlier.
The governor of Zamfara, Bello Matawalle, also dumped the PDP for the APC after months of speculation.
Mr Matawalle’s defection leaves Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State the only PDP governor in the North-west region.
The PDP has also recorded more defection of lawmakers at the state and national levels than the ruling party in the last six months, despite failure of the latter to end insecurity in the country.