The Democratic Party of the Peoples (PDP) has repudiated the state congress held in the state of Cross River last Saturday, describing the members of the party who attended the event as they suffer from “hallucinations”, a development that suggests that the crisis in the leading opposition party is far from finishing.
In reaction to the exercise in Abuja on Monday, the National Secretariat of the Party said that it believed that those who converged in Calabar, the state capital, attended a carnival and not any congress authorized by the National Labor Committee (NWC).
“The people who were there were for a pre -cancel. I am not marketing to pump, but Calabar is a city of Carnival.
“It is hallucinations to have people together to sit down, take some drinks and call it Congress,” the National Secretary of Advertising, Honorable Debologunagba, said on Monday, while heading to journalists.
The reaction occurred when the party also minimized the reported presidential ambition of former President Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that he is only the former president, and no one else, who could speak with authority in his next political destination.
At the Cross River Congress, Oologunagba recalled that the party followed the required process of announcing a Congress postponement previously scheduled for September 27, notifying the National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and other interested parties.
The party spokesman also explained that the congresses were postponed in the states of Cross River, Plateau and Kebbi, and added that the postponement notices were properly advertised.
“Let me tell you this clearly. There is no crisis here. I can tell you with courage that the NWC is united in this. And we all agree that I should postpone for reasons I have said before.
“If there are letters, as you said, the body that controls this party in terms of management is the National Work Committee. None of the officers is the body. And the body sat and decided overwhelmingly, most voted for that reason for the reasons that I have mentioned above.
“Then, if there are letters you are talking about, that letter cannot be above the decision communicated by the NWC.
“As I said, those who went to Calabar were for a carnival,” he added.
Omodunagba, who threatened sanctions against those who said they were acting a script on behalf of the people folded in keeping the PDP in disorder, insisted that in regards to the PDP, a new date would be announced for the postponed congresses in the three states at the appropriate time in which the consultations had been completed.
Last week, only a few hours before the congresses, two letters in conflict, both aimed at INEC, would enter into circulation.
While the first letter of the National President of the Party, Ambassador Umar Damagum, communicated the postponement of the congresses to INEC, a second letter from the national secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, responded to Damagum, asked INEC to ignore his letter as the congresses would continue as scheduled.
Oologunagba added that until last week, when the party postponed the Congress, the possession of the state leadership of Cross River, after expiring, the chapter was being supervised by the South-South Zonal Committee of the PDP, waiting for the election of a new state executive committee through a new congress.
However, in Calabar, the decision of the NWC was ignored as an electoral panel chaired by the honorable Jones Chukwudi Onyereri continued to carry out the Congress.
The election produced lawyer Venatius Ikem as a re -elected state president, along with another 38 as members of the State Executive Committee (SEC).
By the way, Ikem, a former National Advertising Secretary of the Party, who had previously submitted a judicial procedure that sought a statement to be held by Congress, did not expect the final determination of the matter before Congress took place on Saturday.
Speaking after the winners arose, Honorable Onyereri, a former member of the House of Representatives, declared: “For each election, according to the electoral guidelines, there are legal institutions that must be present. Inec is here, the REC is here, and also the police, NSCDC, DSS and members of the press to guarantee transparency.”
Oologunagba, who also clarified the case of former President Jonathan, said his reported presidential ambition was not a statement made by the PDP, therefore, the party would not comment on the issue.
The spokesman explained that the PDP was not in a position to speak for Jonathan or Professor Jerry Win, who on Sunday announced that Jonathan would run for the presidency in 2027 on the PDP platform.
Win, while talking with reporters in Minna, the capital of the state of Niger, on Sunday, shortly after the conclusion of the PDP Congress there, he revealed: “In 2015, Jonathan said that his ambition was not worth the blood of the Nigerians.
“Since then, we have had another president for eight years and now another for two years. The Nigerians have seen the difference, and ask us to bring our friend, former president Goodluck Jonathan back.
“I can confirm that it will compete in 2027 as a candidate for PDP.”
But, minimizing the dissemination of Win, Oologunagba said that the party could not speak for Jonathan or win.
According to him, the party has “capable and credible hands”, including state governors, any of which, he argued, could fit in the position of PDP presidential candidate.
He added: “I do not speak for Professor Jerry wins. People can express their opinion. But, I will emphasize this. In this party, as we are today, President Jonathan is a member, he has not said that he is not a member.
“But I can tell him that today, this party has eminently described the Nigerians, particularly at the level of governors, who have done it extremely well, that Nigeria can take advantage of that and say, advance to the dish and do the right thing, because their performance in their states shows their capacity, which is actually the DNA of the PDP.
“I invite you to have a peer review mechanism between the PDP states and the APC states. This is the conversation we should have so that Nigerian people look PDP and see the variety of qualified people who are there.
“Then, I do not speak for President Jonathan. I do not speak for Jerry, with due respect. But our party is focused on our convention, and when we reach that bridge, we will cross it. Those should be semantic.”
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