Metuh admits PDP rift may cost the party the 2023 election
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Leadership chaos in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may narrow the 2023 race to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP), and cause the PDP lose out, warns its former National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh.
He said APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu and LP presidential candidate Peter Obi would be the beneficiaries if the PDP fails “to sit down together and resolve our differences before the situation completely gets out of hand.
“The crisis, if it persists, may narrow the 2023 presidential election to a two-horse race between Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi.”
The PDP has been in turmoil since former Vice President Atiku Abubakar clinched its presidential ticket in May.
The rift deepened after Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, who came second in the primary, was overlooked by Atiku in the selection of his running mate.
The crisis got worse last Wednesday when Wike and his allies announced their withdrawal from the Atiku Campaign until PDP Nation Chairman Iyorchia Ayu resigns or is removed.
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PDP position precarious
Metuh counselled the restoration of peace to the PDP before the election in February 2023.
“The fate of the PDP in the 2023 election has been made precarious by Obi’s presence in the race.
“Whether or not we admit it, Obi’s LP will take a considerable size of PDP votes in all the states in the South East,” he told The Nation.
“Obi has also penetrated states in the South South, including Rivers, where Governor (Nyesom) Wike holds sway and there is nothing anybody can do about that. So, nobody should hold the PDP or its candidate (Atiku) to ransom. “
Metuh stressed it would amount to weakness on Atiku’s part to buckle under pressure from Wike and remove Ayu, a condition Wike demanded for his participation in the campaign.
In his view, Atiku will become a laughing stock among Nigerians and in the eyes of the international community if he yields to such pressure.
South not shortchanged by PDP, he says
Metuh, the longest serving member of the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC), said the desire of Nigerians is for a President who would be strong and firm in his convictions.
He acknowledged Wike as a champion of the cause of his people but cautioned him against bringing down the house with his insistence on the removal of Ayu.
He dismissed claims by Team Wike that the South has been shortchanged by the PDP. “Issues should be discussed in-house,” Metuh insisted.
“Enough is enough. I speak from institutional knowledge as the longest serving member of the party’s NEC. I don’t think it is fair to say that the South has been shortchanged in the affairs of the party.
“If you put it the other way, I think that the South has gotten more than a fair share in the affairs of the PDP and we are comfortable with that, and we don’t have any problems.”
