18th December, 2020
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Walid Jibrin has appealed to aggrieved members of the party not to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the chairman, defection can not be the solution to their grievances, but they should allow the party’s leadership to address their grievances amicably.
Jibrin in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja also he advised all contending interests to sheathe their swords.
His words: “In my capacity as chairman of PDP BoT, I am watching very keenly recent developments in our great party with a special call on all aggrieved members to remain with a view to looking for the way forward.
“As a father to all, I have decided not to pay deaf ears to group or individual grievances to enable me play a neutral and fatherly role for necessary action.”
The BoT chair went on: “I wish to call on aggrieved members to sheathe their sword, while we explore all peaceful means for amicable solution.
“I want to state that it is very normal for any member or group to air their views, but we must use the various reconciliation strategies to make the party the stronger.
“I want to further state that PDP has come to stay with the determination to bring our detractors and enemies to shame.” He appealed to all organs of the party, including the national caucus, National Executive Committee (NEC) and the national convention to live up to expectation and be guided by justice and fairness without any sinister motive.
This appeal is coming after more members of the opposition party defected to the ruling APC.
PDP member in the House of Representatives, Sam Onuigbo, yesterday announced his defection to the APC.
But the defection of the lawmaker, who is one of the oldest members of the House, created an uproar from his former colleagues who insisted that the constitution had been breached and that Onuigbo’s seat should be declared vacant.
In a letter read on the floor of the House by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, the Abia lawmaker said he was joining the APC due to the crisis and what he called a lack of internal democracy and outright impunity within the PDP.
Objecting to the defection and demanding that the seat be declared vacant, Solomon Bob (PDP, Rivers) described Onuigbo’s action as a charade.
“If somebody writes to you, claiming he was leaving the party that sponsored him to this House because of a crisis, it is your responsibility to investigate before accepting his letter,” Bob told Gbajabiamila.
House Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu, who said he was a proud member of the PDP, urged the House to invoke the provisions of Section 68 of the Constitution and declare Onuigbo’s seat vacant.
Deputy Minority Leader Toby Okechukwu said: “Onuigbo has taken a dangerous step as there was no crisis in the PDP, either in Abia state or at the national level.”