PDP plans national conference to rebuild party

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party said on Thursday it would reposition the party for future elections.

It therefore said because of this, there was the need for the party to have a national conference where issues bordering on how to reshape the party would be discussed.

Olisah Metuh

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, stated this in Abuja while speaking with journalists on the proposed national conference of the party.

Metuh said a lot of corrections needed to be made due to what he described as the many mistakes of the past.

He added that it was only the PDP members that could contribute to efforts to correct the mistakes of the past.

He was reacting to the crisis generated as a result of the claim by the National Working Committee of the party that it had shifted the proposed national conference of the party scheduled for October.

The proposed conference was being put together by some members of the Board of Trustees of the party, who were backed by both the board and the national caucus of the party.

But because of the alleged fear being nursed by the NWC members that the conference would be used against them, they said the conference must not hold until December.

Metuh, however, said the NWC members were not against the proposed conference, but insisted that all stakeholders of the party would be involved in the conference.

Metuh said, “The NWC, the BoT and even the PDP Governors’ Forum are on the same page on this. We want the national conference and it must hold because we need to know what to do to rebuild the party. If the party had done well, we wouldn’t have lost election and we need this conference to fashion out ways to rebuild it.

“A lot of corrections need to be made due to many mistakes of the past. And it is only party members that will contribute to ensure that that happens. So we need that conference.

“So, we are confirming that that the conference must hold. But we are in need of all the organs, critical stakeholders of the party to participate and make inputs.”

Metuh said that the NWC members had replied to a letter written to it by the leader of the proposed conference, Prof. Jerry Gana, concerning the conference.

He said the former minister of information had, on Wednesday last week, written a letter on behalf of the BoT to the NWC members, informing them about the conference.

He said, “On Wednesday, the NWC received a letter from Prof. Jerry Gana on behalf of the BoT for a proposed conference.

“The NWC however noted that the proposal had members of the committee and everything. So, the NWC now wrote back to Gana, that it will have to study it and communicate in due course.

“Because we felt if we are going to do it, all interests will be accommodated in terms of the leadership of the National Assembly; we will take interest of the PDPGF, we will take nominees from state Houses of Assembly in Nigeria.

“We will take nominees of youth leaders and all the youth forum, because we want the party to go back to the youths now because we want the youths to be involved in whatever we are doing.”

He regretted that there was a communication gap between the NWC and the Gana committee, adding that this could be the reason why the committee proceeded with its preparations for the conference.

Metuh said that the NWC felt that the delay in the holding of the conference was necessary because the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, had been given an assignment that he had yet to turn in.

“So, without waiting for that report, and without considering the input of that report, it means that we have discarded and foreclosed the issue of the Ekweremadu Committee,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Ekweremadu-led Post-Election Review Committee of the party has said the committee’s report will be submitted on September 30.

The deputy senate president stated this while interacting with journalists in Abuja on Thursday.

PDP plans national conference to rebuild party