The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Board of Trustees have announced plans to meet with presidential hopefuls under its platform to discuss the possibility of presenting a consensus candidate for the 2019 Presidential elections.
The decision was revealed by the PDP BOT Chairman Senator Walid Jibrin at a news conference in Kaduna on Wednesday.
Senator Jibrin also insisted that those who participated in laying siege to the National Assembly on Tuesday must not be allowed to go free.
Read: PDP Leaders Protest Freezing of Benue, Akwa-Ibom State Accounts
He advised PDP presidential aspirants to conduct their campaigns with decorum and avoid listening to wild rumours and accusations that might scuttle their chances at the polls while he informed journalists that the BOT was making every effort to bring the aspirants together for a discussion.
“Efforts are on ground by BoT to bring all the PDP presidential aspirants together to consider how best they should accept one of them to stand, realising that despite their number, only one person will emerge as a candidate during the primaries and also only one person will emerge as the President of Nigeria” he said.
The BOT chairman further added that if the aspirants found it difficult to agree on a consensus candidate then the PDP will have no choice but to conduct primaries.
He also expressed that he would like the PDP to allow room for more defectors to come into the party because it would continue to boost the ego of the party.
According to the BOT Chairman,
“While we do this we will also consider the role played by our old and hardworking existing members who supported the party almost to the point of death. No decampee should be pushed away for now. We shall apply conflict management resolution methodology to enable us remain stronger. We must at all cost use sacrifice. In the light of the above, PDP shall never condone campaign of columny against us by the APC as more of their members continue to decamp to PDP and… I assure them that they are all qualified but only one of them will become the President of Nigeria”
Senator Jibrin continued further, “We have men and women of honour in the BoT that will never sell their conscience ensuring that the best will come out of the presidential aspirant without fear and favour. I urge all organs of the party to partner with BoT in this respect. I call on all members of PDP to remain calm and resolute by remaining unshaken with the belief that PDP will take over government at the federal and states with majority of our members in National Assembly and state assemblies”
Commenting on the siege on the National Assembly by the Department of State Security (DSS) on Tuesday, Senator Jibrin said such undemocratic practice will not move the country forward while he condemned the DSS and called for sanctions against the principal officers involved.
He also commended Vice President Yemi Osibanjo for taking the decision to do away with the DSS Director General and promising to investigate the incident.
Jibrin noted that the defection of Senate President Bukola Saraki, governors Aminu Tambuwal, Samuel Ortom, Abdulfatai Ahmed, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso and several other members of the National Assembly to the PDP, with many more on their way out of the APC, should be seen as an act of democracy.
“They should therefore never be condemned but praise them for their boldness for taking a decision on behalf of their numerous supporters. The purported resignation of our Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, is also act of democracy. Therefore considering the recent action taken by Vice President Osibanjo, the PDP is happy to donate Akpabio to APC through him with great pleasure, as we have many PDP senators to do that job which has been upgraded to majority leader. On behalf of the BoT, we wish Akpabio bye-bye and safe journey advising him to learn from history, especially from those that left us and are now returning enmass.” The Senator concluded.