“WE WONT SHUN THE APC CONVENTION”….nPDP Leader Baraje

Amid reports that members of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) members are poised to move from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to another party soon, the nPDP has stated that it is going to attend National Convention of the APC scheduled for Saturday June 23 in Abuja.

Leader of the faction, Alhaji Kawu Baraje while reacting recently, dismissed the reports as mere rumours

saying they (nPDP) would attend and participate fully in the party’s convention slated for Saturday.

Baraje, in a statement released by his media office in Kwara, emphasized that his group has no cause not to attend the convention despite their recent disagreements with the APC leadership.

“We are looking forward to the Saturday convention. We will be at the convention and after that, we shall see how things unfold”, he said.

The nPDP leader stated that as a member of the convention committee of the party, he attended a meeting once with other members of the committee but after that initial meeting, disclosed that he had been very busy and as such, not been able to attend others.

Tasked to respond to insinuations that the President was not interested in meeting with the members of the nPDP, Alhaji Baraje said the group or, himself as the leader of the group would not officially react now.

“When it is necessary for the Presidency to invite them for discussion, talk or dialogue, they will invite the group as they are also waiting”.

He disclosed that an enlarged membership of the group would meet in the evening (Thursday) to take further actions and a common stand on their positions.

In a related development, the embattled outgoing National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has been alleged to be responsible for the problems besetting the party and has put in obstacles for his likely successor.

A chieftain of the APC from Ebonyi state, Senator Julius Ucha who was a governorship candidate of the party in 2015, made this allegation recently while speaking with journalists in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi state capital.

Senator Ucha, rebuking Dr. Oyegun over a report credited to him in a national daily where he (Oyegun) said the Senator would soon join a few members who would be leaving the party in a few weeks, stressed that Oyegun cannot force him out of the party.

Similarly, the Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Francis Alimikhena who is the Deputy Whip of the Senate, has stated that former governor of Edo state as Chairman of the APC, will reposition the party for the greater good of all its members considering his antecedents as a leader.

“APC is not in doubt of the capacity of Oshiomhole”, Alimikhena emphasized. 

He has therefore urged members of the PDP to focus on how to resolve their besetting crisis rather than entangled themselves with the internal affairs of the APC. He also described the PDP as a party in disarray without capable human resource to confront the caliber and credible human resources at the APC.