Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) has cautioned Senator Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee (NWC) not to take sides with any presidential aspirants.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) slated 18 February 2023 for the general election, while the political parties are expected to conduct party primary elections to elect candidates by June to July 2023.
PDP BoT Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin who stated this Thursday, during the inaugural meeting between the members of BoT and NWC also urged the party leadership to use its wealth of experience to make the party great.
Jibrin who congratulated all the newly elected NWC members said “the election of the entire NWC members especially the National Chairman has been accepted by all organs, party members, and all Nigerians. The election has undergone genuine processes starting from the Unit, Ward, LGC, State, North Central Zone, Northern Region, and of course and National Convention.
He continued, “May I also and sincerely congratulate the Zonal and National Convention Committee Chairmen who are all Governors and of course the entire 13 PDP governors for their tremendous contribution to the truly accepted elections of all the NWC Officers. Our governors have done us proud and the BoT will surely continue to work with them through their Forum Chairman H.E Hon. Aminu Tambuwal.
“May I urge the National Chairman, therefore, to use his wealth of experience to make the party great as it remains the largest party in Africa. You must try to reconcile individuals, States, and National issues. Do not be detracted by the ambition of individual members but keep the party as formidable as possible. Concentrate on your duties and not more of who shall be the President, Vice President, Senate President etc. do not side any Individual with self ambition”.
In his response, PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia assured that his leadership would be open to all party organs and members
He added “When we built cohesion in the party, it was possible for us to win first 21 governors and president, we increased this number to 28. So our decline started in 2011. Today we are down to only 13 sitting governor’s but never you worry, very soon the number will increase to the appropriate level.
PDP National Chairman also noted that “the BoT has over the years played a very pivotal role in the affairs of the party. We have run into all sorts of crises and I thought the BoT would have fallen apart in the recent crisis that led to the change of leadership of the party.
“The BoT was very, very, very important. I am happy, I was a member of the BoT and that’s is a special adviser to the chairman. If the crisis was solved then it means I was also a good adviser and the BoT Chairman was a very good principal.
“There was a time when the BoT was largely ignored, I think that was wrong. We must return the party to the corporate processes of initiating policies at the National Working Committee. The various critical organs of the party must be taken along. One of those critical organs is the BoT.
“We also have the caucus, we have the governor’s forum, we have the National Assembly, we have the state chairmen of the party. The moment you begin to make decisions that isolate these organs, it means the party will be working at cross purposes with each other
“It is very important to me and my colleagues in the National Working Committee that we constantly regularly consult with all members of the BoT. If we do that, the party will move smoothly. And if the party moves smoothly, it means we’ll be stronger, then if we are stronger, It means we will win more elections because the objective of a political party is to win elections, not just to create unnecessary intrigue within the party. Intrigues, yes, but there must be something about personal interest. Most of the intrigues arise because of personal interest. It is only when we put the interests of the party as paramount that we’ll be able to take this party to victory”.