A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr.Haliru Bello Mohammed, has expressed optimism that the crisis rocking the party will be resolved in earnest and the party will win the 2023 presidential election.
The party is currently enmeshed in a battle of wits over the emergence of governor of Delta State, Mr. Ifeanyi Okowa, as against widely expected Rivers State governor, Nyesome Wike, as vice
presidential candidate to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who
holds the party’s ticket.
But Dr. Haliru Bello, while speaking on a TV programme, downplayed the perceived seriousness of the
crisis, maintaining that the PDP had experienced politicians working
to resolve the impasse. He noted that their skill helped the party to
tackle many crises in the past to become stronger.
“Nomination problem is always significant at any election period. We
have always come through them. But this very one, because of the importance of Governor Wike in our party; remember he stood with the party when we were in deep crisis over the Ali Modu Sheriff problem; and he has also been our pillar, supporting the party since that time.
“In fact, the rebuilding of the party happened, thanks to him and some
other governors, since we lost the 2015 election. But all the same, the issue of nomination, and especially nomination of running mate, this time, became problematic, not because Atiku Abubakar set up the committee; that was correct, because, last time, in 2019, when the
vice president was nominated without consultation, there was a lot of
complaints and brouhaha. This time around, the Waziri of Adamawa
corrected that mistake and consulted widely among party members before
nominating his running mate. But the problem is, as always, for any
appointment or nomination, there are several contenders.
“I believe the way it was handled before the announcement was the cause of the problem; and people have the right to feel slighted because of the problem. Wike has the right to feel slighted, because
he was expecting to be nominated and when the decision was made, he
was not privy to it before the announcement. I think that was the
mistake that was made.
“But that is a minor issue. Wike is a loyal party man. As I said earlier, he has been supporting the party and he will like the PDP to win the presidential election. And after he is consulted and he is
assuaged, I think he will support the candidature of Atiku Abubakar
and work hard to make sure the PDP wins the presidential election. I
am sure everything will be sorted out after this Port Harcourt meeting,” he said.
The former national chairman, who had also served as chairman of the
party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), said while he had not seen leadership
lapses in the PDP over the crisis, the only mistake he identified was the late response of the party’s BoT to the need to inform Governor Wike appropriately before the selection of the vice presidential candidate, adding that had Wike been carried along properly, the
problem might not have arisen.
He said the development made Wike and some other supporters of the
party felt slighted; and that with the machinery put in place, the matter would soon be a thing of the past.
“We have what I consider a slight problem; a member of our party and a
number of supporters felt slighted in the course of nominating our vice presidential candidate.
“With the expertise and experience of the PDP in problem solving, I don’t think that is enough problem to be called malignant. We are
working on it. It is a difficult subject to discuss at this point,
because it is something that is ongoing; we have a committee that is
worked in Port Harcourt; and we will not like to throw a hammer in the
works. I wouldn’t want to go into much details of what is happening or
what will happen.
“But if we were to solve the problem, I think it would not even have
reached this stage. I think there have been, I wouldn’t say failure of
leadership, but some mistakes on the side of the BoT. You know, the
BoT has the responsibility of moving in to resolve issues between
party members, between party and legislators or between legislators
and presidency when we are in government.
“But this time, because we don’t have a president, the BoT did not act
as fast as it should; if it had stepped in and called the party to
order, this problem would not have reached the stage it has reached.
But even then, it is not too late.
“The party has set courses in motion and I believe that after this
Port Harcourt meeting, there will no longer be any problem. Wike will
come back to his brothers and sisters in the leadership of the party
and we will move ahead to win the election in 2023,” Dr. Bello said
