09/09/2022
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), NEC meeting has finally come and gone with Senator Walid doing the needful by resigning at least to give a sense of belonging to the South, as the opposition party is going into the campaign ahead of the general elections slated for next year.
It is important to emphasize that this time is not the right time to go into crisis, rather the time to put their houses in order. The party can't afford to lose power again in 2023. The party's Presidential candidate, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, GCON no doubt has paid his dues and invariably the most experienced amongst the three serious candidates contesting.
It is no longer news that PDP is better positioned to win the next year's presidential election than both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party.
There is this popular saying that any serious minded man who is looking for something very important do not get tired until he gets it. Yes Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is undoubtedly taking the right steps to resolve the disagreement between him and the Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike, which started shortly after the party's primary election, but he should intensify more effort and pay Wike a surprise visit with his running mate, the governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, and resolve it one on one before the the general campaign. Since Wike had said that he would not leave the party, it means he's still waiting to hear from the former Vice President.
Obviously, Governor Wike and his friends will not want candidates from another political party to succeed them in office in 2023. In the same vein, Governors Makinde, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu who are presenting themselves for an election in 2023, cannot afford not to deliver themselves and other PDP candidates in their states. It will also be difficult to ask people to vote for only their candidates when the presidential election is scheduled to hold according to the INEC's time table on 25th February, 2023.
In fact, it is not good for any political party to be in crisis when going into an election. Since the condition giving by the Rivers State Governor, that the Party's national Chairman, Senator Ayu should resign has been foreclosed yesterday given the vote of confidence passed on him, meaning that he should continue to do his work as the party chairman, the best thing for Wike is to see reasons with the party as no single individual is bigger than the party.
The party should take next year's general election seriously, owing to the fact that Atiku Abubakar is a strong candidate who is capable of winning the 2023 presidential election.
