The National Working Committee (NWC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised a 10 man Committee to find out why its House of Representatives members and Senators failed to abide by the decision of the party during the National Assembly leadership election.
This is coming barely 24 hours after the party’s Board of Trustees BoT set up 5 man committee to find out what played out in the emergency of Hon. Ndudi Elumelu as the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, which later led to his and five others suspension for a month.
Addressing journalists in Abuja Wednesday, while unveiling members of the committee, PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus who was represented by Deputy Chairman South, Elder Yemi Akinwumi representing the Chairman boasted that the level of internal democracy in PDP is comparable with what is obtainable in other party.
The members of the committee are: Former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, Chairman, former national secretary of PDP, Prof Wale Oladukpo – Secretary. Others include Senator Ben Obi, Hon. Yohana Iliya, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Hon. Austin Okpala, Senator Stella Omu, Rt. Hon. Magreth Icheen, Hon. Hassan Hyatt and Senator Abdul Ningi.
He explained that “What we are doing is a display of internal democracy. This is the advantage PDP has over other political parties in Nigeria. This is what brought us to the level we are, respect for internal democracy. We solve issues by dialogue, by discussions, by looking at the two sides of the coin. This you will never find in other political parties in Nigeria.
Referring to the All Progressives Congress (APC), he said “If you go to our sister party you will see crises, placards being displayed, demonstrations here and there but you can never find such in the PDP because we are bless with people that are knowledgeable, people that are intelligent, people that can think ahead of others.
He added that, “You will look at the governors, the governors forum, all the strata of the party so that you can go into the nitty gritty of what happened and advise the party appropriately. You have done it before and we believe you will doubt again. The terms of reference has been well spelt out. You have three weeks to report your findings, your investigations to the NWC.
The terms of reference of the committee include: To investigate and find out whether there is any involvement of the ruling party in the decision taken by the members involved. Where there are established reasons for taking the action by the members, the individual members should be identified so that the party creates mutual and political atmosphere for reasonable interaction with Honourable members. To hnd out and recommend ways to Checkmate such tendencies in the future and ensure that all members work together to defend the interest of the Party at all times and circumstances.
Reacting on behalf of the members of the committee, Chairman of the committee, former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, described the assignment as a very serious one and promised that the committee will perform its duties in accordance with the terms of reference.
He added that “We will look into all the areas, we have men and women of proven integrity. At the National Assembly, that is where politics starts and ends. So we will go in there and unearth what happened and even before 3 weeks get back to the party”.
