PDP BoT raises committee to end Wike/Atiku feud

The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised a committee to interface with feuding Rivers State governor,  Nyesom Wike and the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar over the selection of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as the vice presidential candidate.

The board met at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja on Wednesday with its chairman,  Senator Walid Jibrin, presiding.

Jibrin had previously announced that the board would wade into the dispute to end it and ensure that the main opposition goes into the coming elections as a united force.

He said the meeting would produce recommendations on how to end the feud while its members would thereafter meet with the Rivers governor and other former presidential aspirants in the party.

Addressing the media on the outcome of the meeting, a member of the BoT, Senator Abdul Ningi, who disclosed the decision to set up the committee, said: “We have set up in this committee of the BoT to be able to interface between warring factions, particularly the acrimony that is taking place between the presidential candidate and governor Wike and any other conflict that is taking place in the nation within our party formation.

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“The committee is the committee of the whole. That means every other BoT member is a member of the committee. I cannot tell you the grievances and the time frame.”

Speaking on the call for the National National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu to resign, the BoT member said, “We have not even discussed any issue of anybody stepping down. We discuss what we discussed, and what we discussed is what I told you.”

Meanwhile, the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has asked for increased collaboration between the governments of the United Kingdom and Nigeria in finding solutions to issues that are of mutual benefit to both countries.

He made this call on Monday when a delegation of the British High Commission, led by Catriona Laing, met with him at his residence in Abuja.

According to a statement by his media office, the meeting discussed a wide range of issues bordering on security, education, agriculture, economy and fostering national unity in Nigeria.

The High Commissioner noted that the meeting with the former Vice President was part of the ongoing engagement of the UK government to enhance democracy and credible elections in Nigeria.

Some members loyal to Wike did not attend the meeting, suggesting that disagreement remains in the board on the way forward over the crisis.

When his grouse was raised, it was learned, that some members suggested that the party can do without Wike, while others were said to have pleaded that the matter is handled with care so that the chances of the party in 2023 are not jeopardized.

It was gathered that the issue of the main positions in the party being occupied by northerners was discussed, but no concrete resolution was reached.