The chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamaga Tukur has urged members of the splinter faction, “New PDP” led by Abubakar Kawu Baraje to sheathe their sword and lend a united voice on the national conference agenda of the party as he denied being the cause of the party’s recent woes.
Tukur made the appeal on Tuesday in a statement, wherein he assured on the party’s effort towards mobilizing Nigerians to take part in the proposed national conference so as to fully represent the yearnings of the populace.
The New PDP has reiterated over time since the outburst of their grievance in the party that the crises in the PDP revolve around Tukur.
But Tukur has continued to deny it when he alsostated categorically “Let me reiterate that I am not the cause of the crises in our party as the National Chairman”.
He appealed to all members of PDP to align with the President Goodluck Jonathan on the issues pertinent to the national conference.
He further urged the aggrieved members of the party in the “New PDP” to return to the PDP to facilitate the rebuilding ofa formidable PDP as well as the development of the country as a whole.
“Yes, we seem to be at the crossroads in PDP and that is normal in democracy. However, what is not normal is if we resolved to permanently stand apart with little regards to our memorable starting line, past efforts in building the party as well as our common aspirations in raising PDP to be the most formidable among all” he further appealed.
He also said that those who are against the national conference are hypocrites as he noted that they had previously led support for the conference but now back out for political reasons.
“I appeal to members of the PDP to align with the President on the national confab agenda. I also appeal to our aggrieved members to return to the PDP for us to forge a common endeavour towards rebuilding the party and our country in particular.
“For this reason, I will not shy away from begging our party members to come together so we can enter the national confab like a team and set examples for the rest of Nigeria.
He assured that the party will be able to illustrate the commitment of the party as “the most serious party, not only in Nigeria, but in Africa”.
Tukur further express his surprise that those who previously advocated for the confab on several occasion are among the critics of the committee recently set up by President Goodluck Jonathan.
He further pointed out that the idea of national dialogue was in sync with the Triple ‘D’ agenda of the party which are Dialogue; Defence and Diplomacy.
“The PDP would savour every means to make the conference produce a good result for the country. The President deserves our support”, he assured.
He said the PDP would mobilize all Nigerians including the opposition groups for the successful convocation of the national dialogue which he insists offers a great opportuinity for the foundation of the country to be re-laid.