By Geraldine Onyenweaku
Ruptures within the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, the main opposition to the ruling All Progressive Congress, following Atiku, the flag bearer of the PDP and Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers state and a stakeholder and member of the party is threatening to tear the party apart and cost it the presidency in the coming elections
So deep is the division within the main opposition party the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, that the rift between Wike and Atiku ahead of the forthcoming elections has continued to steal the headlines of major newspapers .
The bad blood flowing between Wike and Atiku is so much so that the two have not been able to schedule a meeting where they can both trash out the contending issues amicably devoid of rancor.
Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers state has reportedly insisted on the resignation of Iyorcia Ayu as the Chairman of the PDP, and that the party’s constitution must be followed. This has further escalated the crisis as supporters on both sides of the divide hold divergent views. While Wike’s group agree that Ayu must resign for the party to move forward, the Atiku’s group has seen no need for that, arguing that Ayu could stay on till after the elections.
This division within the major opposition party is being seen as a blessing in disguise; a chocolate bar all over ice cream, by the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, which sees the PDP as a major contending force in the coming elections. It is therefore no surprising that the APC has been alleged to have lapped up the Ayu must go call by the pro Wike group of the PDP with a view to further stoking the split.
In a statement by the Director Media and Publicity of Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday, mocked Atiku and the PDP over their lingering and seemingly insurmountablerift.
Onanuga had said in a statement that “Once again, another bid for the presidency of our country by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, is slipping away. This is unravelling before our very eyes even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blows the whistle for electioneering campaign. His party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in disarray. The signs are just too ominous for the Waziri Adamawa with the report by the Economic Intelligence Unit predicting another trashing for him in the forthcoming polls.
“After violating his party’s code for power rotation between the north and south and grabbing the PDP ticket without a modicum of sensibilities about our national ethos, Alhaji Atiku is now faced with the karma of his inordinate ambition.”
Reacting through a Statement signed by his Media Adviser to Paul Ibe, former Vice president, Atiku, described Tinubu and APC as busy bodies, urging them to face their frailties.
He described the APC state on issues pertaining to developments within the PDP as a laughable work of an interloper.
Atiku said instead for APC to focus on its credibility and acceptability issues, they are poking their nose into PDP internal affairs.
The statement read, “Reading through a disingenuous press release by the APC Presidential Campaign Council on issues pertaining to developments within the PDP comes across as a laughable work of an interloper.
“The release is disingenuous because it lacks any merit of a reasonable, intellectual riposte. Rather, it exposes the APC and its presidential candidate as a bunch of busy bodies, who, rather than focus on the burden of credibility that continues to dog their campaign, are poking their nose into minor internal issues of the PDP.
“Well, since the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation seems to have woken up from their state of hibernation, it is good to remind them that there are pending questions about the social and educational history of their candidate that Nigerians want answers to.
“We shall be kind enough to remind the APC that when, in the next few days, campaigns begin in earnest, Nigerians will require answers to some weighty character questions about their candidate and, rather than expend precious time on what is never their business, should use the remaining few days judiciously.
“Secondly, whatever is happening in the PDP is a conversation among leaders of the party and that, in itself, is a reflection of the PDP, as a living and engaging political party. The conversation in the PDP is all about consensus building, which in itself is a major ingredient for peace and unity.
“The PDP, as a truly democratic party, understands that democracy is a lively concept because it allows for people to express their opinions and, it is within that understanding that everyone becomes part of the process.
“The same, of course, cannot be said of the APC where what exists is at best graveyard peace. It is on record that in the seven years and more that the APC has been in power and with the attendant hardship that the party has foisted on the ordinary people of Nigeria, the candidate of the APC, former governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu had not for one single time stood on the side of the people.
“And, that is so for the obvious reason that the presidential candidate of the APC considers his poorly conceived presidential ambition more important than the adversity that his party has unleashed on a vast majority of Nigerians. We wish to remind the APC that its presidential candidate has to own the failures of the party in the last seven plus years. He should also know that Nigerians will not reward their failure with nothing less than a resounding loss in the election.”
In what it termed, ‘Tinubu and the APC ma lu’le!’, the party said, “It is important to let Tinubu and his paid agents know that what obtains in the PDP is not the mundane stoicism that the APC is known for.
“Indeed, the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has established credibility before the masses of this country that he is one patriot who can be counted on to stand by the side of the people – even when the times are hard.
“Atiku is a democrat to the core and that is evident in the way that he continues to carry on with the responsibility of ensuring that the PDP rescues Nigeria from the stranglehold of the APC in next year’s general elections.” the statement concludes.
It is left to be seen how well the PDP succeeds in managing their internal wrangling and very strong fault lines to show the party’s strength and their determination in using these initial problems as a springboard to come out stronger and clinch the presidency next year. The ball is in their court to do the right thing and save the party. The Vultures are waiting to feast on its carcass.