PDP alleges plans for parallel national convention

In a development it described as “sabotage,” the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it has uncovered plans by some unscrupulous members of the party to hold a parallel National Convention on December 9, 2017. According to a statement Friday in Abuja by the National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, “this is totally uncalled for and a complete act of sabotage. Those making such plans cannot be said to be honest members of our party, the PDP. They are not patriotic but just out to destroy our party. “The National Caretaker Committee has been working very hard to carry all party members and supporters of the party along in all the preparations for the forthcoming National Convention holding December 9 to 10. “We are also putting resources in place to address all the fears earlier reported by some national chairmanship aspirants. One of the steps taken is to make available and in good time the comprehensive names of all delegates to the national convention to all the aspirants before the convention. “We therefore see no reason for any honest member of this great party to want to disrupt our programmes, except they are of course working for the ruling party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).” The party said further that it was not oblivious of the plans by APC to sabotage the convention, adding: “Apart from the internal fighting within the APC, one of the reasons the party postponed its national convention to next year was to enable it monitor closely our convention with a view to destabilising our party ahead of the 2019 general elections. “The planned parallel convention is one of those ideas of the APC to create divisions among members of our party. It will be most unfortunate for members of our party to allow themselves to be used against the party, especially in the light of our recent painful experience. “The National Caretaker Committee is willing and ready to address all the concerns of our party members regarding the forthcoming national convention. Members should take advantage of our open door policy to ventilate their opinions, concerns and grievances. “We realize of course that there is little we can do to dissuade those who have decided to become paid agents of the ruling party. Part of the agenda of the APC to sabotage our convention and destabilize our party is the arrest of leaders of our party on trumped-up charges of corruption. “We had cried out a few weeks ago that there was a list of about 50 top leaders of our party earmarked by the ruling party for arrest and incarceration. The APC propagandists said we were crying wolf. Now we are being vindicated by the continued and unrelenting arrest, intimidation and harassment of our top leaders. “In the past one week, the former Governor of Taraba State, Mr. Abubakar Danladi, and former Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, two prominent members of our party, were arrested by the anti-graft agency, the EFCC. This is apart from the five that were earlier arrested within November. We don’t know who will be next in the list.” The statement continued: “These are all parts of the agenda of the APC to create an atmosphere of fear and insecurity around PDP members before and after the national convention. It is also part of the overall strategy of the ruling party to turn Nigeria into a one-party state. “We once again call on Nigerians and members of the international community to be vigilant to ensure that APC does not institute full blown dictatorship in the country. The only reason the APC is hell bent on killing the opposition in Nigeria is due to its non-performance and inability to deliver on its campaign promises. “They have failed Nigerians and they know too well that they can no longer convince Nigerians to vote for them again in 2019. We want to assure members of our party nationwide that the leadership of the party will provide an enabling environment and a level playing field for all those contesting for one position or the other before and after the national convention. “We pledged to ensure a transparent, free and fair election and by the grace of God we are going to conduct the most democratic election in the history of any political party in Nigeria.”