As ultimatum expires, nPDP threatens Buhari with unprecedented shocks in 2019
Considering the observed poor attention so far given to their protest letter to the leadership of the party, aggrieved members of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) within the All Progressives Congress (APC) have vowed to shock the ruling party and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 election if their grievances are not sorted.
Image maker of the Alhaji Kawu Baraje led faction of the nPDP, Mr. Timi Frank, during a parley with newsmen in Abuja, also dismissed the Senator Abdullahi Adamu faction which members he said were “mere noise-makers.”
It would be recalled that the group recently petitioned the national chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun and copied President Buhari among other chieftains of the party complaining about marginalisation.
High point of the petition was a seven-day ultimatum to the NWC to do the needful in adequately aligning nPDP members into the mainstream of the ruling party, which they said is yet to take effect since the 2015 electoral success.
However, following the expiration of the ultimatum on Monday, Frank who reinterated that the threat contained in the letter was not an empty one, said the faction would soon meet to take a decision.
According to him, “Everybody knows that it was our participation in the APC that practically brought the victory we are all enjoying today. So, when people like Senator Adamu who used to be one of us came up with some of his positions, he must have forgotten history and I want to make it known to him that whatever they’ve said to counter our position are total lies. Nigerians are there to testify.
“They said the nPDP group has benefitted massively from this government. That is one of their claims, which is not true. But, I want to make it very clear that we are not here to respond to individuals, we are here to make it known that our letter is to the party. So, it is left for the party to either take it seriously or not. But I believe any serious party will take whatever position or decision we have brought them to look into.
“Today makes it seven days from the day our group brought this letter to the party. But as it stands, we’ve not got any response yet from them. As we have said, whatever we must have said in that letter, it is not an empty threat. If they decide to ignore us, so be it.
“But at the appropriate time, we are going to respond and make our position known to Nigerians based on what we have said. It is not just a mere threat; it is not just a mere ultimatum. But I will tell you clearly that we are meeting with our leaders and we are going to come up with a clear positions on our next step if finally they don’t attend to us,” he said.
“I want to use this opportunity to remind my party that this is the same way we were trying to correct the wrongs of the Goodluck Jonathan government while in the PDP, but they never listened to us. We told them why we were aggrieved. Our leaders moved round the states to talk to party members, to ask the government at that time to listen to our views, but at the end of the day, they refused, they ignored us, that is how we left.
Continuing, Frank averred that “When we left, we joined the APC and that was how today, we are enjoying this so-called change agenda we are talking about. So, if today, 95 per cent of us, who came from the nPDP are aggrieved and they felt they are going to undermine us or they are going to ignore our group, so be it.“But at the end of the day, we believe we are going to take a decision that will benefit the Nigerian people because we believe that democracy should be all inclusive. Democracy should not be a situation where when you speak the truth, you will be harassed and intimidated.
“Today, everyone that is harassed within the APC came from the nPDP. We have not seen anybody from the ACN or the CPC or the ANPP or the section of APGA that joined us being intimidated or harassed. It is clear. So, we are not going to be intimidated,” Timi Frank, spokesman of nPDP warned.
