The factional National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ini Ememobong, has provided updates on moves being made to reconcile the warring factions in the opposition party.
One of the major challenges the reconciliation might face is that the faction backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, believes in an outright second term for President Bola Tinubu, while the Kabiru Turaki-led side has vowed to field a viable candidate for the presidential election.
The Wike faction has made it clear that the PDP would not be fielding a presidential candidate in the next election and there are fears that they would demand that Turaki and his group endorse President Bola Tinubu as a condition for reconciliation.
Speaking on Arise News’ The Morning Show, Ememobong expressed optimism that a common ground would be negotiated but also insisted that the PDP would provide candidates at all levels in the coming election.
Told that reconciliation may seem delusional at this point going by the factors in play, the spokesperson said, “Truth is that both hope and delusion are human emotions, and at the end of the day, it is the result that determines which was hope and which was delusion.
“So I can assure you that we may not endorse the President. You see what we are doing now is, when you are a leader, you are listening to the people you are leading. In the circumstance that we are, we are delegates of power and we are listening to the delegators who delegated the power to us to act.
“And at this point, the delegators of power have said, look, can we at least get to the table? When parties come to the table, you come with your reducible minimums. If there must be peace, one of the terms of the agreement we are going to take will be that we will field candidates at all points.
“And about presidential candidates, we will provide a viable candidate. We are going [to the negotiation table] with an open mind for reconciliation, but that reconciliation must keep us as an opposition party.”