PDP NEC may decide on Wike, others today

Barring last-minute changes, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will today hold its 102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, where the fate of some top members accused of anti-party activities, including FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and former Benue State governor Samuel Ortom, may be decided.

It was gathered that the Tom Ikimi-led disciplinary committee has already submitted its report to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), recommending sanctions against several members indicted in petitions for working against the PDP in the last general elections.

Also high on the agenda is the party’s forthcoming national convention and the report of its zoning committee. The 101st NEC in August fixed the convention for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, Oyo State, to elect new national officers.

Although most PDP stakeholders support the Ibadan convention, Wike has opposed it, claiming he and his camp were not consulted. The former Rivers governor has also insisted that peace will remain elusive until the party recognises the South-South congress conducted by his loyalists, which produced Dan Orbih as zonal chairman, but was rejected by the NWC.

It was learnt that acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum; the Board of Trustees Chairman, Adolphus Wabara; and governors elected on the party’s platform, who met in Zamfara at the weekend, are weighing options against Wike and other erring members.

Speaking with one of our correspondents, the PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, confirmed that preparations for the NEC were complete. He dismissed fears of disruption, assuring that the meeting would be “peaceful, devoid of rancour and outrage.”

“It is going to be a very successful outing. NEC members have already been arriving. The venue is guaranteed, and the NWC is in session. The outcome will be communicated later in the day after the meeting,” he said.

Abdullahi said the meeting would review progress since the last NEC, with a focus on the work of the Convention Planning Committee inaugurated two weeks ago.

“We will amplify the position of the last NEC, which is essentially to do with the Convention Planning Committee, and also review where PDP is at the moment. What lessons have we learnt from the last meeting? What is the way forward for the party? Top on the agenda remains the convention,” he said.

He added that Wike’s case and other disciplinary matters would also be discussed.

On zoning, Abdullahi recalled that the party had agreed to rotate the presidential ticket to the South, while the national chairmanship would remain in the North, though micro-zoning between the North-Central and North-West is yet to be concluded.

He also confirmed that southern leaders met recently in Lagos to harmonise their positions, but clarified that their proposals were still subject to ratification.

State governors and stakeholders during the 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, held at the PDP’s national secretariat in Abuja recently

Buttressing the party’s position on Wike, a member of the National Working Committee (NWC), who asked not to be named, told Daily Trust that the issue surrounding the FCT Minister, along with others indicted by the Tom Ikimi-led disciplinary committee, would be on the table at today’s meeting.

“It will be discussed, but whether it would get to the level of sanctioning him, I am not going to guarantee that. But certainly, he will form part of the conversation, and we will listen to NEC. The outcome of whatever is discussed during the meeting is going to inform the next line of action. So, it’s safe to say the NEC meeting will decide the fate of Wike, Ortom and others that the committee received petitions about,” the NWC member said.

On fears that Wike and his allies could attempt to frustrate the convention, the source dismissed such concerns, insisting that no individual or group could block the process.

“What powers does Wike have? He will go to court? He should go. The truth of the matter is that no reasonable court, not even the Supreme Court itself, can overturn its own judgment. It has been said that all these are internal affairs of the party, and that’s what we are doing.

“If the apex court gave that judgment mischievously, this is the time for them to now know that they have shot themselves in the foot. It is an internal affair of the party, and to that effect, the party will be the one to decide what it wants to do tomorrow (Monday). And the NEC is the highest decision-making organ of the party next to the convention. So, we are going to have our way,” the source added.

Another NWC member, who was once regarded as an ally of Wike but asked not to be named, said many former supporters of the ex-Rivers State governor had since withdrawn from his camp.

“We are waking up to the reality that there is a political party that brought us together in the first place. And the political party seems not to be favourably disposed to one of the persons that we believe should be supporting this party, identifying with the party, and promoting its ideals. And that is the fellow you just mentioned (Wike).

“Our point of departure is to the effect that he continues to undermine the values of this party, and he is not even pretending about it. He now comes all out to cast aspersion on the party, to deride the party, to condemn its executive, to threaten the party. If we don’t take a decision now, we would have confirmed the allegation all along that we have been bought off and are in the pocket of this individual, which you media people have amplified over the years,” the source said.

He stressed that members of the NWC had a duty to draw the line and reaffirm their commitment to the party’s survival.

“There is a need for us to look at the mandate that we have from PDP faithful across the country, to come clean and live up to expectations with regard to our oaths of office, that we will protect the party, stand by its ideals, and enhance its fortune.

“When one of us, no matter how close he was to us, begins to undermine the party, then it behoves us to draw the line and call it what it is. So, this is exactly the reason for the changes,” he added.

Former PDP National Secretary Ibrahim Tsauri also weighed in, saying Wike cannot stop the convention because “one member of NEC cannot be more than NEC itself.”

He explained that the party has delayed Wike’s suspension or expulsion because no political party likes to lose members. “Before the campaigns proper, PDP will act or Wike will leave on his own,” he said.

Tsauri stressed that the convention must hold as planned. “The convention is going to hold. One single person, no matter how highly placed, is not NEC, is not NWC, is not even a governor. If one NEC member says he is not aware, does that concern NEC?”

Tracing the crisis, he said it began with the tussle over the office of the national secretary. According to him, Wike backed Samuel Anyanwu to remain, which led to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refusing to recognise signatures from anyone else.

“Morally, Anyanwu was supposed to have relinquished that position for Sunday Ude-Okoye, who was nominated by the South East zone. But INEC refused to accept any signature except that of Anyanwu, who is for Wike. To avoid a repeat of the crises in Zamfara and Plateau, the party decided to let sleeping dogs lie,” he said.

Tsauri noted that Anyanwu still signed letters for the last NEC and the coming convention. “If Wike holds a parallel convention, which I doubt, INEC will not recognise it. INEC cannot monitor two conventions at the same time,” he said.

On why Wike has not yet been sanctioned, Tsauri explained: “No political party would like to lose a member. We prefer to bring people in, not expel them. But if it becomes necessary, then we have to do that. When we reach the river, we will cross it.”

Also speaking on the activities of the FCT Minister, a chieftain of the PDP and one-time National Chairmanship aspirant, Engr. Conrad Terhide Utaan, told Daily Trust that the party must move from “barking to biting” if it wants members to take its authority seriously.

He stressed that once the NEC has taken a valid decision, no member, including Wike, should have the capacity to undermine it.

“It’s high time the party moved from barking to biting. If the decision to hold the convention was the decision of a validly constituted NEC, then it is irrelevant whether Wike attended or not. The Ibadan convention must hold. And if any member frustrates a valid decision of the party, then sanctions as stipulated in our constitution must apply,” Utaan said.