2027: PDP factions clash over Makinde’s Ibadan speech
By Ndukaku Ihe
Mixed reactionsfrom the two factions of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) have trailed the speech by Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, at the Summit of opposition political parties, in Ibadan, at the weekend.
Speaking at the summit, the governor had reportedly cautioned against the slide to one party state in the country, while referencing the operation “wetie”, which preceded the collapse of the First Republic.
However, the PDP bloc backed by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike and led by Abdulraham Mohammed as National Chairman, condemned the speech by the Oyo governor.
But the PDP bloc led by Tanimu Turaki as National Chairman, which enjoys the support of the Oyo State governor, said Makinde’s reference to incidence of the first Republic was a note of caution to the Federal Government, the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and other institutions.
The Mohammed-led National Working Committee (NWC), in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, said violence has no place in the country’s political space.
Part of the statement reads: “the Party strongly condemns this disgraceful statement, and emphatically reiterates that violence has absolutely no place in our political space today.
“Nigeria must come first, before politics and before personal ambitions. Without a peaceful and stable nation, no political system or democratic process can thrive.
“The PDP therefore calls on all Nigerians, irrespective of political affiliation, to unite in rejecting any rhetoric or action that could incite unrest or threaten national cohesion.
“Our shared history reminds us of the cost of division, and we must remain vigilant in safeguarding the peace we have worked hard to build.
“We further urge security and law enforcement agencies to carry out their duties with diligence and professionalism by reviewing the circumstances surrounding these reports and also ensure that all relevant individuals are available to respond to lawful inquiries no matter how highly placed. ”
Nevertheless, the Turaki led NWC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, said the events that led to operation “wetie ” and the current developments in the polity allegedly orchestrated by the APC are similar.
Consequently, it stated that the “responsibility for any violence in the build-up to or immediately after the 2027 elections lies squarely at the doors of the Federal Government, the All Progressives Congress,
INEC, and every national institution charged with the defence of democracy.
The citizens know the aggressors from the victims, and the APC’s attempt to play victim has failed woefully.”
The PDP bloc explained that “the use of history in the way and manner done by Governor Makinde in the said speech served as a caution and advisory to the Federal Government, the APC, and other national institutions, of the unmitigated crisis that their actions and inactions can result in. Only a guilty aggressor can interpret it to mean a threat or call to violence. It is common knowledge that those who do not learn from history are doomed by it.
“Governor Makinde offered a sobering reminder that when insatiable political greed and avarice replace patriotism and good governance, and are compounded by the accumulated anger and frustrations of the citizenry, the resultant conflagration will be of immeasurable proportion. This again is a fact that history bears witness to.
“The events that led to the sad incident of ‘wetie’ and the current happenings within the political space, as orchestrated by the APC, are not just similar but identical in both intent and execution. To continue doing the same thing while expecting a different result is the very definition of political recklessness.”
It added that, “when pushed to the wall, people have no other direction to go but forward, against the wall itself. The current slide into elected totalitarianism has been entirely engineered by the APC and the Federal Government. They cannot decry the effect while remaining willfully blind to the cause and to their own culpability in it.
“When the APC was in opposition, they did not merely threaten violence, they openly promised to make the country ungovernable, with the infamous baboon and blood narrative. They therefore lack any moral capacity to complain about a mere historical recollection by a sitting governor.
“As long as the targeted state-sponsored decimation of the opposition continues, the opposition parties will explore increasingly potent strategies, entirely within the ambit of the law, to prevent the enthronement of a one-party state under an elected dictator.
“The APC should be ashamed of their comprehensive failure in both governance and politics, and their resort to the crude tactics of inducement, intimidation and persecution of opposition leaders.”
