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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
There are indications that the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may spill over to the 10th National Assembly, which would be inaugurated in June.
Some newly elected PDP House of Representatives members, it was gathered, might yield to the G-5 governors’ wish when the battle for the leadership of the House and minority caucus commences.
Though the PDP is yet to issue any directives to lawmakers elected on its platform, there were indications that some newly elected members might go along with the five governors’ positions regarding the choice of the minority and the House of Representatives leadership.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, had while hosting the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idiris Wase, penultimate Monday, said the state chapter of PDP will support the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the national level.
Wase is contesting for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“The truth must be told that we are going to support the leadership of your party (APC) at the national level,” Wike assured Wase.
It was learnt the other members of the G-5, who also have loyalists among the lawmakers-elect, might align with Wike in deciding the next leaders of the House.
The G-5, comprising Wike, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), had been at loggerhead with the PDP leadership since the party’s presidential standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar emerged after a contentious convention in May 2022.
The governors were insisting on the removal of the suspended PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to ensure balance in the party’s hierarchy.
A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Dagomie Abiante, in an interview with The PUNCH, said that Wike was expected to play a role in determining who would become the leader of the PDP caucus in the 10th Assembly.
The lawmaker noted that Rivers was one of the few states with the most ranking members in the House.
“Does the party have a choice outside of Rivers and Wike? The PDP does not have a choice outside of Wike. It is not about people jumping around and making noise. Some of us are very calm and quiet. It is our nature.
“The truth has to be told: the party does not have any future away from Wike. In the entire North, how many are returning members of the party? If you are talking about experienced returning members, Rivers has them. Outside of Rivers, where else?” he said.
When asked about the likelihood of the National Working Committee of the PDP ignoring Wike’s loyalists when nominating leaders for the minority caucuses in the Senate and the House, Abiante noted that Ayu was no longer the national chairman of the PDP and could not decide the minority caucuses’ leaders.
Ayu was suspended from office by a Benue State High Court last month following a suit filed by Conrad Utaan, a former aide to Ortom.
“There is no PDP without Wike; maybe you are talking about a different party. But if you are talking about the PDP, it is Wike that calls the shot and the truth must be told. They abandoned the party and someone rebuilt the party. Even when they came back, because they were allowed into the house, they did not know where the keys and the rooms were,” the federal law maker said.
Abiante noted that the performance of the PDP in the 2023 general elections was “painful to everybody,” adding that instead of the leadership of the party to reconcile the warring factions after the polls, it continued with its hostile actions.
“This is where it has landed us and today, he (Ayu) is no longer the national chairman. If he is no longer the chairman, where is he going to do the nominations from?” he added.
Speaking on the possibility of the minority leadership being hijacked by other forces, Abiante said that the outcome of supplementary elections would go a long way in determining the next leadership of the House.
He recalled how the PDP failed in its bid to nominate leaders of the minority caucus of the current House.
Recall that Kingsley Chinda and the three others lost the battle for the leadership of the minority caucus of the House in 2019.
The PDP had nominated Kingsley Chinda, Toby Okechukwu, Umar Barde and Muraina Ajibola for the minority caucus leadership.
However, the conglomerate of opposition parties in the House appointed Ndudi Elumelu as Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu as Deputy Minority Leader, Gideon Gwani as Minority Whip, and Adesegun Adekoya as Deputy Minority Whip.