The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday dismissed the inauguration of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caretaker committee by supporters of Kabiru Turaki, describing the move as fraudulent.
Wike also warned Nigerians against being misled by what he called an attempt to create confusion within the party, insisting that there is only one PDP with its registered national secretariat at Wadata House, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.
He maintained that the caretaker committee set up by Turaki and his loyalists was an attempt to deceive the public. According to him, there is no leadership vacuum in the PDP, as suggested by the group.
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Wike further argued that the Supreme Court’s verdict did not create any leadership gap within the party. He insisted that any attempt to sell nomination forms by Turaki’s group amounts to fraud.
“You have refused to tell the public what is on ground, and you are coming out to say ‘we are setting up a caretaker committee’, how? And you are deceiving people that you want to sell form.
“I dare them, let me see an office you will name PDP national secretariat. If you say you are a party, go and put a sign ‘PDP national secretariat’ just as we are occupying Wadata, that is where everybody knows as PDP national secretariat.
“If you are saying that you want to sell form, to whom? You will submit it where? Is that not fraud? You went to court, we didn’t go to court, and the court gave judgement against you.
“You have not set aside that judgement and you are now coming to deceive people by setting up a caretaker committee, and begin to sell forms. Is that not fraud? What is 419?” Wike said.
He added that the recent PDP convention held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, and witnessed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), remains the only authentic convention of the party, producing the current national officers of the PDP.
Turaki-Led Bloc Interim PDP Leadership
Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP, led by Senator Adolphus Wabara, had on Monday appointed a 13-member interim National Working Committee for the party.
Wabara said the move was taken in line with the PDP constitution, insisting that the Supreme Court judgement, which upheld the nullification of the Ibadan Convention, created a leadership vacuum within the party.
The 13-member interim National Working Committee is led by former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki.
The decision was taken at a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held by the Turaki-led bloc of the PDP at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.
Prominent party stakeholders who attended the meeting include Governor Seyi Makinde, former Governor of Niger State Babangida Muazu, former Minister of Information Professor Jerry Gana, Senator Adolphus Wabara, former Minister of Special Duties Tanimu Turaki, and former Minister of Women Affairs Zainab Maina, among others.
The group also maintained that the Abuja convention, which produced the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led National Working Committee of the PDP, is null and void.
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