Opposition Party Chairman, Ahmed Makarfi
Nigeria’s Toothless Opposition Party Plans Convention
The national leadership caucus of Nigeria’s biggest opposition party, the People Democratic Party (PDP) has said the party will hold its national convention come December 9th.
The party has been struggling to find its feet after losing power to rival All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2015, going through many legal challenges and internal crisis.
The party may have decided to pull itself together ahead the 2019 general election.
The PDP National Caretaker Committee Publicity Secretary, Mr Dayo Adeyeye, said that the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party on Tuesday in Abuja’s Wadata Plaza approved the convention and some electoral guidelines for the convention.
Adeyeye had told journalists that the NEC also granted waivers to new members in South-East Anambra and South-West Oyo States who recently decamped from other political parties to the PDP.
“As you know in Oyo state, so many people are joining PDP from other parties and we want to give them a level playing ground just like other members who have been in the party.
“The effectiveness of that is that as we are conducting congresses of the party from wards to local government level, new members can participate.” He’d said.
The ruling party, APC, has barely governed without any opposition party checkmating it. But for 16 years, the APC was fit for an opposition party. The party was stoically critical of every step of ruling PDP, a strategy that overtime weakened the party’s hold on power.
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, who was the APC National Publicity Secretary is believed to be a propagandist. Lai Mohammed deployed all skills and experiences in government opposition and propaganda to chase the PDP out of power in 2015.
The National Convention of the party is expected to embolden the party now toothless opposition.