Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governors, alongside the party’s National Chairman, Umar Damagum, have declared that the National Elective Convention scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, Oyo State, will go ahead despite threats from the camp of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday during the inauguration of the 119-member National Convention Planning Committee, chaired by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Bala Mohammed, said the governors would not be intimidated.
“We are not cowards,” Mohammed said, warning that disciplinary action would be taken against members undermining the party. He stressed that the PDP would not bow to arrogance, impunity, or what he described as “a faction of fools.”
Also, PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Adolphus Wabara, represented by Secretary Ahmed Makarfi, said both northern and southern leaders were free to micro-zone party positions, while interested members retain the right to contest.
The remarks came after Wike’s loyalists, under the Eminent Leaders and Concerned Stakeholders of the PDP, warned on Monday that the convention would be “invalid” unless their demands were met.
In a communiqué read by former Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, the group insisted that the position of National Chairman must remain in the North-Central in line with the 2021 zoning formula.
They also opposed micro-zoning and called for fresh congresses in Ebonyi, Anambra, and the South-East, as well as pending congresses in Ekiti State.
The November convention is expected to elect a new National Working Committee as part of efforts to reposition the PDP after years of internal crisis.
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