PDP Crisis and Atiku’s Campaign on the Plateau
In this piece, Seriki Adinoyi writes on the damage the internal crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party is likely to wreak on the presidential bid of Atiku Abubakar in Plateau State, if not quickly addressed.
The internal crisis rocking the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) again reared its head by way of low turnout at the presidential campaign rally in Jos, the Plateau State capital, where the stadium was not as electrifying as it used to be in the past rallies of the party.
Former Governor of the state, Da Jonah Jang, who is famously described as a rallying point of the party, with substantial control over the party in the state, was conspicuously absent.
His absence alone cast a dark cloud over the rally that used to be charged with large number of able-body young Plateau men that are his foot soldiers. No thanks to the protracted internal wrangling that has torn the once robust party into shreds. Jang belongs to the camp of the Governor of River state, Nyesom Wike that has been calling for the head of the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu.
His position has not changed on the matter. He has continued to reiterate that Ayu promised that if a Northern presidential candidate emerge from the party primaries he was going to resign as the party National Chairman, and that promise must be honoured for the sake of justice and fair play. He decided therefore that he was not going to be part of Atiku’s campaign, and was therefore not at the rally.
