Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed the move by the Tanimu Turaki-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to appeal the Court of Appeal judgment on the party’s leadership at the Supreme Court.
Wike made the remarks on Friday night, after inspecting the Valodrome of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, the venue of the PDP National Convention scheduled for March 29 and March 30.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Turaki-led National Executive Committee (NEC) had, on Friday, unanimously ratified the decision of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to appeal the appellate court judgment.
Reacting, Wike described the move as “baseless”, stressing that it would have no effect on the planned national convention of the party.
According to him, the convention will proceed, while efforts to resolve internal disputes will continue afterwards.
“I have always said that in any group, there will be grievances. You cannot expect that in a family of two or three people, everyone will always be satisfied, let alone a party with millions of members.
“There will always be a few who are not happy. We have agreed to sit down with them, understand their concerns and see how we can accommodate them. What is most important is the overall interest of the party,” he said.
The minister said that PDP would shock Nigerians by using the 2027 general elections to show its strength.
“PDP is a very large party. Look at the umbrella; it is wide enough to accommodate everyone,” he said.
On the zoning arrangement, Wike confirmed that positions had already been allocated across zones.
“We have already zoned our positions. Every zone has its own slots. The presidency has been zoned to the South, while the chairmanship is zoned to the North.
“We believe this consensus arrangement will make the process easier.
“For the first time, PDP is presenting a unified front, rather than the usual ‘unity list’ that often reflects internal divisions,” he said.
He explained that the visit to the stadium was to assess the final arrangements for the convention which, he said, was about 95 per cent ready.
“Seating arrangements for all states have been completed and the VIP section is ready,” Wike said.
NAN reports that Wike was accompanied by the Chairman of National Convention Planning Committee, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa and Chairman of the National Caretaker Working Committee (NCWC), Mohammed Abdulrahman.
Others were: the National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu other members of NCWC as well as Chairman of Rivers Elders’ Council, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba and former Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche.