The Peoples Democratic Party has begun plans to meet aggrieved members
of the All Progressives Congress otherwise known as the New PDP faction.
Though
the party has been meeting with individuals to form a coalition against
the ruling All Progressives Congress in the past, it was however
gathered that the main opposition party had stepped up consultations
following the open declaration by the members of the nPDP, who are in
the APC, that the ruling party and President Muhammadu Buhari last week
were marginalising them.
Some members of the
nPDP being led by a former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu
Baraje and a former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, had
written a letter to President Buhari, demanding an urgent meeting with
him.
In the letter, which was also sent to the National Chairman
of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Baraje and Oyinlola said that the
meeting with Buhari must hold within seven days.
Though Oyinlola
had left the APC for the ADC, Punch reports that the national leadership
of the PDP was said to have scheduled secret meetings with the
aggrieved APC members.
The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince
Uche Secondus, confirmed the desire of the party to meet the aggrieved
APC members to one of our correspondents on Sunday.
Apart from
the aggrieved APC members, Secondus told Punch in an interview in Abuja
that the main opposition party would do everything legitimate with
other opposition political parties, to wrest power from the ruling
party .
He said, “Don’t forget that majority of those in the
ruling party came from the PDP. They left us due to one disagreement or
the other. These are eminent Nigerians who went to the APC, thinking
that the APC would be a vibrant alternative and that those behind it
meant well for everyone and the nation.
“However, events of the
past years have shown otherwise. So, we are meeting with everyone soon.
We have met some and we will also meet others. The meetings don’t need
to be formal. We have known ourselves before and these people know that
we won’t deceive them. Whatever we promise to do, we will do.
“Our
former governors that left with their supporters are going to return to
us. We will all come together to rebuild this damaged country.”
Asked
when the meeting would hold and the venue, Secondus said, “We won’t
give details. Political strategies are not achieved on the pages of
newspapers alone. Just wait and see.”
