There emerging indicators that fresh crisis is looming in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the setting up of both the executive and legislative arms of government by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). This is not unconnected with the decision of the opposition party to investigate the lawmakers elected on its platform in the National Assembly on their ‘disobedient’ to the party directive on the election of the presiding officers of the National Assembly – the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The PDP had gone into the election at the inauguration of the ninth National Assembly on June 11, 2019, with reasonable figures of representatives that required marginal drift from the APC to turn the table against the candidates sponsored by the ruling APC. Ironically, the PDP failed to maximize the figures of its own members in the election of the Senate President, Deputy Senate President; Speaker of the House of Representatives; and, therefore, suffered unusual defeat in the National Assembly after the remarkable performance of the party in the 2019 general elections.
National Daily learned that a former President of the Senate, Adolphus Wabara has been named to lead a panel to investigate the party lawmakers’ roles in the election of the presiding officers of the Ninth National Assembly on June 11.
Report indicates former Deputy President of the Senate, Ibrahim Mantu; Senator Ben Obi; former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara; and a former Senate Chief Whip, Senator Stella Omu were appointed members of the panel to work with Wabara in the investigation.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, at a press conference after the 86th PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting acknowledged that the party constituted a panel to unravel what happened during the National Assembly election.
PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, also admitted the support of BoT members of the investigation.
PDP leaders had at a meeting 24 hours to the inauguration of the Ninth National Assembly and election of the presiding officers of the two chambers, endorsed Senator Ali Ndume for Senate President and Umar Bago for Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Ahmed Lawan defeated Ali Ndume to emerge Senate President, while Ovie Omo-Agege defeated Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, to succeed the PDP lawmakers. Femi Gbajabiamila, former House Majority Leader, defeated Umar Bago to emerge Speaker of the House of Representatives, while Ahmed Wase was elected unopposed as Deputy Speaker.
However, some PDP stalwarts fear that the party should not take the matter too far, contesting that the PDP is still fragile after the 2019 general elections despite the g=success recorded in the elections. The PDP elders also warned that any action to sanction party members at this time could generate monumental crisis the party may not contain in years to come. They, therefore, warned the party leaders to handle the issue with caution, and seek ways to unite the PDP to be stronger and move forwards.