Although the Appeal Court has fixed Thursday, October 28, to hear and determine an appeal filed by Prince Uche Secondus, over his suspension, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has insisted that the national convention of the party slated for October 30, 2021, will go ahead unfailingly. The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said those behind the scheme to scuttle the PDP national convention would surely fail, stressing that nothing would stop the gathering.
Secondus approached the court and asked for an order stopping the PDP from conducting the planned national convention on October 30 and 31, arguing that the convention should not hold until the final determination of the case on his suspension that is pending in the court.
Meanwhile, a state of uncertainty and doubt have pervaded the headquarters of the party as members and officials await the ultimate fate of the planned gathering, three days to the widely publicised convention. Although the PDP National Convention Organising Committee headed by Governor Seyi Makinde, has also said the convention will go ahead as planned and that there will be no going back on the October 30 date, some members are edgy about the court cases that threaten the convention especially the one instituted by suspended National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, to stop the convention. Other aggrieved members of the party, apart from Secondus, have also approached a Kaduna High Court seeking to stop the October 30 national convention citing irregularities in congresses among other issues.
This has already brought a new twist into the problems facing the PDP as some members of the party have accused the ruling All Progressive Congress] APC] and the Presidency of influencing and bankrolling the legal actions against the party in a desperate effort to scuttle the convention. When our correspondent visited the PDP National Secretariat on Tuesday, it was observed that preparations for the convention had continued but at a slower pace as committees and staff awaited the outcome of the pending court cases.
The correspondent noted that the screening committee continued with its work of scrutinizing the list of delegates and contestants for the various elective positions listed for the contest by the party. It was however discovered that as of Tuesday, October 26, 2021, many states excluding [Kano and Ekiti] had not successfully submitted their delegates list for scrutiny and this prompted the officer-incharge of the compilation to make frantic telephone calls urging states to do the needful before the deadline. Also, hundreds of applications have been submitted by media houses to the party for accreditation of reporters to the event but the process was allegedly delayed for administrative reasons until Friday, October 28, 2021, when it is hoped, the coast would have become clearer and the party will decide whether or not the convention will hold.
Some members of the PDP discussed in hushed tones within the premises of the party the latest development, in which the Presidency and the ruling All Progressive Congress were accused of sponsoring dissident elements to scuttle the national convention. The new twist gives credence to the remarks of the PDP National Convention Organising Committee Chairman Seyi Makinde, who said: “We are aware of the actions of few misguided PDP members who have approached the High Court in Kaduna in an attempt to prevent our great party, the PDP from holding its National Convention on October 30 and 31, 2021.” In a statement on Monday titled, “Statement by the PDP National Convention Organising Committee Regarding the Case Instituted at the High Court in Kaduna to Prevent the PDP from Holding its National Convention on October 30 and 31, 2021,” Makinde said that members have been informed about the decision of the party to go ahead with the convention [despite the legal implications].
He said, “Notwithstanding their right to approach a court of competent jurisdiction to air their grievances, we maintain that the National Executive Committee of the PDP has acted in good faith in fixing our convention for October 30 and 31. It is not meant to be a witchhunt or to truncate anyone’s mandate. “Therefore, we call on all members and supporters of the PDP to ignore this distraction as we prepare to host a convention that will send a clear signal to Nigerians that the PDP is the only party that has the will and the might to rescue Nigeria from the catastrophe that we have been enduring for the past six years. “We are aware that a clearly united PDP is a threat to the forces that seek to divide us. Therefore, we urge our teeming supporters nationwide to keep the faith as we are taking all necessary measures to ensure that we will not be distracted from our goal.” Political observers speculate that the PDP might equally use the legal instrument to bulldoze or set aside any legal impediment that may stand in the way of the party between now and the date of the convention.
Commenting on the alleged interference of the Presidency and the ruling party in the affairs of the PDP, the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said in an interview that those behind the scheme would surely fail and stressed that the PDP national convention would be held unfailingly as planned on October 30, 2021. On the delay in submitting the list of approved delegates, Kola said many states where congresses had been concluded had already submitted their delegates list but added that some were being contacted to submit the pictures of participants that were missing from their lists. He stated that even in states where there were parallel PDP congresses, only the delegate lists submitted by the groups supervised by leaders from the national headquarters will be accepted. According to the PDP spokesman, “If the National Headquarters sends people to states to go and conduct primaries, and people leave the one that the headquarters organised and set up another congress, they are just playing games with themselves and nothing more.”