SAN FRANCISCO, September 09, (THEWILL) – The chairmen of the state chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) across the country under the aegis of Conference of PDP State Chairmen on Monday expressed confidence in, and total allegiance to, President Goodluck Jonathan and the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
Pledging unalloyed loyalty to President Jonathan, the PDP chairmen of the party in the states declared that “we do not believe in any approach that would stampede the smooth running of our great party, especially so when external influence is being insinuated.”
Their declaration came on a day Tukur maintained that the unity of Nigeria is only assured under the ruling PDP.
The state chairmen made the declaration of support and allegiance in a communique signed by their chairman, Emmanuel Agbo, and read at a media briefing held at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja.
The communique issued at the end of a meeting earlier held by them on Sunday stated in part: “We wish to implore our teeming members and supporters to remain steadfast as there is no need to panic, because the transformation programme of the PDP-led administration will surely take us to 2015 and beyond.”
And faulting members of the party for expressing personal grieviances without due process, the chairmen said “we appreciate the genuine efforts being put together by our party elders at dousing tension within the party, and we urge them not to relent.”
The states which had their chairmen in attendance at the media briefing included Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Oyo, Cross River, Adamawa, Yobe, Ekiti, Benue, Kogi, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Nasarawa, Ondo, Lagos, Gombe, Ogun, Osun, FCT, Plateau, while 17 state chairmen were absent.
The absent state chairmen included those from. Kano, Kwara, Sokoto, Niger and Jigawa. However, factional chairmen of Adamawa State and Rivers State, Joel Madaki and Felix Obuah represented their states.
Other chairmen absent were those of Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Bayelsa, Kebbi, Borno, Bauchi, Delta and Edo States.
Though only 20 chairmen attended the meeting, Agbo said the communique enjoyed the support of all the 37 state chairmen, especially those of the aggrieved governors, saying there was constant correspondence among the chairmen over the position of the conference.
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the party, Tukur, said on Monday that only the ruling PDP can assure the unity of Nigeria .
“Only PDP can guaranty the unity of Nigeria. It is only the PDP that can guaranty the integration of sub-region,” Tukur said while addressing the chairmen who paid him a solidarity visit after the media briefing .
Expressing gratitude to them for standing up for what he described as equity and justice within the party, Tukur said while minority would have their say, the majority would always have their way and that members must be willing to submit to superior reason.
“There may be difficulty within the party but they are not beyond solution, ” he added as he called for consensus within the party.
According to Tukur, “it is when we have it that we would be able to move forward and deliver quality dividends to Nigerians.”
Chairman of the Conference, Agbo, in an earlier remark, called for resolutions to the problem within the party, noting that their blood pressure has trippled since the crisis within the party started.
BY EMMA UCHE, ABUJA
