…Warns on attempts to hijack the party
By Emma Ogbuehi
Against the backdrop of unfolding crisis in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Senator representing Bayelsa West and erstwhile Chairman PDP Reconciliation Committee, Henry Seriake Dickson, has warned on the dangers of allowing the development getting to the point of the party leadership slipping to a caretaker committee, stressing that PDP, not being a ruling party, does not have the time, resources and mechanisms to resolve problems that will arise from the arrangement. A caretaker committee, he said, will throw up more problems before the party convention and primaries at the centre and across the states.
Dickson who made the observation in a statement, remarked that if the PDP shrinks from a party for all to a party for a few, it would lose its selling point and many members and leaders will have no option than to review their membership. He cautioned those behind this crisis in the party not to leave any opening to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to exploit with their control of the resources and machinery of government.
“We should all learn from the challenge the APC has found itself with the appointment of a caretaker committee which is still unfolding. With only four months to the end of the tenure of the current working committee, it does not make sense to either push for and force a resignation, or to force the appointment of a caretaker committee on a party with officers who have a constitutionally guaranteed tenure.
“Furthermore, with only about a year to the nomination of candidates in the light of the ongoing electoral acts amendments bill, it again does not make sense to push a divisive agenda that the party may not have the time resources and mechanism to resolve before the nomination processes and primaries which by their nature are divisive”, he noted.
Dickson advised that the target and focus for the party now, should be to stabilize and strengthen the National Working Committee (NWC) by supporting it and correcting whatever may be wrong in-house quietly while putting efforts wholly on the task of identifying and selecting credible candidates and ensuring fair primaries.
The Senator lamented that PDP’s window of opportunity to take over power in 2023 is fast receding as a result of its self-inflicted challenges, adding that the hope Nigerians have in the party as an alternative is fast dimming too unless it pulls back from the brinks, quickly.
He called on the governors on the platform of the party to close ranks and stop the unnecessary battles amongst themselves, support one another and work with other leaders to strengthen and support the party, rather than weakening it.
Dickson also enjoined the PDP Board of Trustees (BOT), the National Assembly Caucus, elders and leaders of the party across the country to stand with the NWC to prevent the party from further crisis. He urged the National Chairman and NWC members to utilize their powers under the constitution to discipline members involved in the nefarious plot to destroy the party, arguing that PDP is bigger than any individual and should no longer tolerate people with inordinate ambitions to destroy it.
“People with ambition must know that unless the party is stabilized and strengthened, their ambition will be of no consequence even if they pocket it”, the Senator stated.
The unfolding crisis in PDP saw seven deputy national officers of the party resigning enmasse, recently.