Atiku denies fueling PDP crisis, calls for reconciliation

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday denied being behind the lingering crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The former vice president and PDP presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections, accordingly, dismissed insinuations that he is fueling the crisis in the party.

The leadership crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has continued to threaten the cohesion and stability of the leading opposition party in Nigeria. Several leaders and stakeholders, who include State Chairmen, the PDP Governors Forum, and other stakeholders have intervened to resolve the lingering internal crisis.

The former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in a statement on Thursday, called on PDP leaders to unite for the sake of the party’s interest and the country.

Atiku cautioned that the PDP cannot afford to be divided at this critical point when Nigerians are desperately yearning for change in the face of their miserable living conditions.

The former Vice President pointed out that “an opposition that is looked up to as an alternative cannot afford to be fighting itself and lend its hands to the ruling party for its own destruction.”

Atiku told PDP stakeholders and loyalists to understand that the price of having a fragmented PDP is too high to pay, adding that above all, a betrayal to the memories of the founding fathers of the party.

The former vice president stated that he was lately involved in reconciliation efforts within the party across the country and has backed reconciliation processes aimed at diffusing tensions in the party. He called for calm and for combatants to sheath their swords and give the reconciliation mechanisms of the party a chance.

Atiku expressed that the interest of the PDP far supersedes that of any individual, assuring that the party will overcome its current travails for as long as all hands are on deck.

Atiku declared: “The PDP is greater than our individual ambitions. We have to consolidate the party first before we talk about our ambitions. “We have to be careful not to play into the hands of the ruling party. We can’t afford a one-party system in Nigeria that denies our people a viable alternative for true change in 2023.”

The former vice president admonished that lack of unity and internal cohesion could help the ruling party more than the PDP, and that “those who want Nigerians to continue with the current hardship in the land will be eager to fuel the crisis in the PDP for their political advantage.”

He appealed that PDP leaders should put personal differences aside and work for the good of the party, adding that “divided soldiers cannot fight a war and win.”

Atiku Abubakar emphasized that to ensure that the PDP does not repeat the mistakes of the past, all contending issues in the party must be resolved through constitutional means.

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The PDP governors had earlier called for calm as the internal crisis lingers.

The crisis was taken to a higher pedestal by seven national officers and members of the National Working Committee (NWC), who resigned their portfolios and passed vote-of-no-confidence on the PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, and the NWC.