The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has disowned the state congress conducted in Cross River State last Saturday, describing party members who attended the event as suffering from “hallucinations”, a development suggesting that the crisis in the leading opposition party is far from over.
Reacting to the exercise in Abuja on Monday, the National Secretariat of the party said it believed those who converged on Calabar, the state capital, went to attend a carnival and not any congress authorised by the National Working Committee (NWC).
“People who were there went for a pre-carnival. I am not marketing Calabar, but Calabar is a city of carnivals.
“It is hallucinations to have people together to sit around, have some drinks and call it a congress,” the National Publicity Secretary, Honourable Debo Ologunagba, declared on Monday while addressing journalists.
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The reaction came as the party also downplayed the reported presidential ambition of former President Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that it is only the ex-President, and no one else, who could speak authoritatively on his next political destination.
On the Cross River congress, Ologunagba recalled that the party followed the required process of announcing a postponement of the congress earlier scheduled for 27 September, by notifying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other stakeholders.
The party’s spokesman further explained that congresses were postponed in Cross River, Plateau and Kebbi states, adding that notices of the postponement were duly publicised.
“Let me tell you this clearly. There is no crisis here. I can tell you boldly the NWC is united on this. And we all agree that it should be postponed for reasons I’ve stated before.
“If there are letters, like you said, the body that controls this party in terms of management is the National Working Committee. Neither of the officers, it is the body. And the body sat and decided overwhelmingly, the majority voted for that because of the reasons I have mentioned earlier.
“So, if there are letters that you are talking about that exist, that letter cannot be above the decision communicated by the NWC.
“Like I said, those who went to Calabar went for a carnival,” he added.
Ologunagba, who threatened sanctions against those he said were acting a script on behalf of people bent on keeping the PDP in disarray, insisted that as far as the PDP was concerned, a new date would be announced for the postponed congresses in the three states at the appropriate time when consultations had been concluded.
Last week, just hours before the congresses, two conflicting letters, both addressed to INEC, went into circulation.
While the first letter by the National Chairman of the party, Ambassador Umar Damagum, communicated the postponement of the congresses to INEC, a second letter by the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, countered Damagum’s, asking INEC to ignore his letter as the congresses would go ahead as scheduled.
Ologunagba added that up to last week when the party postponed the congress, the tenure of the Cross River State leadership, having expired, the chapter was being overseen by the South-South Zonal Committee of the PDP, pending the election of a new state executive committee through a new congress.
However, in Calabar, the decision of the NWC was ignored as an electoral panel chaired by Honourable Jones Chukwudi Onyereri went ahead to conduct the congress.
The election produced Barrister Venatius Ikem as re-elected state chairman, along with 38 others as State Executive Committee (SEC) members.
Incidentally, Ikem, a former National Publicity Secretary of the party, who had earlier filed a judicial proceeding seeking a declaration for the congress to be held, did not await the final determination of the matter before the congress took place on Saturday.
Speaking after the winners had emerged, Honourable Onyereri, a former member of the House of Representatives, stated, “For every election, according to the electoral guidelines, there are statutory institutions that must be present. INEC is here, the REC is here, and so are the Police, NSCDC, DSS, and members of the press to ensure transparency.”
Ologunagba, who also clarified the case of former President Jonathan, said his reported presidential ambition was not a declaration made by the PDP, hence the party would not comment on the issue.
The spokesman explained that the PDP was not in a position to speak for Jonathan or Professor Jerry Gana, who on Sunday announced that Jonathan would run for the presidency in 2027 on the platform of the PDP.
Gana, while speaking with reporters in Minna, the Niger State capital, on Sunday, soon after the conclusion of the PDP’s congress there, disclosed: “In 2015, Jonathan said his ambition was not worth the blood of Nigerians.
“Since then, we have had another President for eight years and now another for two years. Nigerians have seen the difference, and they are asking us to bring back our friend, former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“I can confirm that he will contest in 2027 as PDP’s candidate.”
But, downplaying Gana’s disclosure, Ologunagba said the party could speak for neither Jonathan nor Gana.
According to him, the party has “capable and credible hands”, including state governors, any of whom, he argued, could fit into the position of PDP presidential candidate.
He added, “I don’t speak for Professor Jerry Gana. People can express their opinion. But, I will emphasise this. In this party, as we are today, President Jonathan is a member, he has not said he’s not a member.
“But I can tell you, today, this party has eminently qualified Nigerians, particularly at the governors’ level, who have done exceedingly well, that Nigeria can tap into that and say, step up to the plate and do the right thing, because their performance in their states shows their capacity, which is actually the DNA of the PDP.
“I invite you to have a peer review mechanism between PDP states and the APC states. This is the conversation we should be having for the Nigerian people to look at PDP and see the array of qualified people that are there.
“So, I don’t speak for President Jonathan. I don’t speak for Jerry Gana, with all due respect. But our party is focused on our convention, and when we get to that bridge, we’ll cross it. Those should be semantics.”
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