By EMMANUEL OLONIRUHA

A factional National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tanimu Turaki, has assured members and supporters that the leadership is taking every step to ensure that the party features prominently on the ballot in the 2027 general elections.

Turaki gave the assurance on Friday in Abuja during his opening remarks at the 103rd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of his faction of the party.

He said that in spite of the lingering leadership challenge in the party, all hope was not lost, as the leadership was working round the clock to ensure that PDP remained a viable platform for all aspirants.

“It is my pleasure to also inform us that the leadership is assiduously working round the clock to ensure that PDP remains a veritable platform for all our members wishing to contest for elections, both in 2027 and beyond.

“We feel that to whom much is given, much is expected. The support, the cooperation, the solidarity of members of National Working Committee (NWC) and indeed other leaders of this party is so humongous.

“It is overbearing to us that our irreducible minimum responsibility for all of you is to ensure that we keep PDP not only afloat, but in a state where we will contest and win elections, and by the special grace of God, come back into government at the centre in 2027,” he said.

Turaki noted that the leadership had intentionally delayed the meeting to analyse unfolding scenarios both within and outside the courtroom on the party’s leadership crisis.

He said that as leaders, they were in a better position to inform party members of all the developments.

This, he said, would guide them in taking informed decisions on what needed to be done, not only for the purpose of saving and strengthening PDP as the “only surviving legacy party in Nigeria today” but also for saving democracy.

Speaking on defection of PDP members to other political parties, Turaki noted that the exit of high-profile members—including former presidents, vice-presidents and governors, would never lead to the party’s collapse.

“PDP will continue to exist because it has become an institution as far as democracy in Nigeria is concerned.

“Nobody and no group of people can stand up and say, ‘This is our party.’ That is why despite the loss of members, it has not affected the survival of this party,” he said.

The Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Sen. Adolphus Wabara, urged members to remain steadfast as the party awaits a formal report from a reconciliation committee headed by Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.

Wabara described PDP members defecting to other parties as having ‘weak belief’, saying: ‘He who laughs last laughs best’.

PDP House of Reps Caucus Leader, Hon. Fred Agbedi, assured the party that the lawmakers remaining in the chamber were holding on and ready for battle.

“When the war gets tough, it’s only the tough that keeps going,” Agbedi said.

He urged members not to be swayed by financial inducements, saying PDP must arise “so we can take this battle to their doorsteps.”

Chairman of State Chairmen, Hon. Tony Azigbemi, representing 28 state PDP chairmen, reaffirmed their loyalty to Turaki’s leadership, describing the internal friction as a fight between light and darkness.

He criticised the unilateral appointment of national officers by some select individuals.

“One man cannot sit in his bedroom and write the names of members of the National Caretaker Committee. We will stick with this leadership, no matter what is thrown at us,” Azigbemi said. (NAN)

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