The New Peoples Democratic Party has said despite the court ruling declaring the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur faction of the party as legally recognized, the struggle by its members will continue.
In a statement on Sunday, the faction, headed by Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, said there is no letting up in the struggle not to allow Tukur and “cohorts” the opportunity to continue presiding over the party.
In that regard, the nPDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said it has decided to convene a meeting to chart the way forward.
The party said that Baraje, who just returned from holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabi, convened the meeting of the Group of Seven Governors, popularly known as the G7, and other stakeholders.
The statement however did not state the date and venue of the meeting.
This is coming on the heels of the sealing of the Adamawa State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, which serves as the secretariat of the faction.
This was after the rented secretariat of the faction was sealed by the police based on a court judgment that has been interpreted in various ways by the parties to the dispute.
The Adamawa State Governor’s Lodge was sealed by the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
The Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, said the Lodge was sealed because it was being used for political activities.
Mohammed said this contravenes the purpose for which the house was built and the Abuja Master Plan.
The statement on Sunday by Eze reads in full: “The New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) under the leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje has carefully studied Friday’s ruling by the Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by His Lordship, Justice Elvis Chukwu, which declared the National Working Committee (NWC) headed by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the authentic leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“As a group that has a lot of respect for the judiciary, we have accepted the ruling in good faith and wish to abide by it. Even so, we have directed our legal team to appeal the judgement as a matter of urgency as we remain convinced that we have a good case and are thus determined to ensure that Tukur and his cohorts are not allowed to hold sway as the leaders of our great party.
“Along this line, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, who just returned from Holy Pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, has convened an emergency meeting of the G7, Stakeholders and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the New PDP to exhaustively discuss the new developments and chart the way forward as there is no going back on our just struggle to rescue PDP from the hands of usurpers.
“Apart from deciding on the Federal High Court ruling and the challenges facing us a group the G7/Stakeholders/NWC Meeting slated for this week is expected to deliberate on how the new Five Governors of PDP that have indicated interest to join the Baraje leadership will be received in the fold.
“Let us reiterate that contrary to some insinuations in some quarters reflected in a section of the media of division and disunity amongst our Governors and National Assembly members because of our current travails but the fact remains that instead of division, our current travails have strengthen us the more and act as a unifying factor that have shown us that it is matter of time that the undemocratic elements that have seized our party will be dislodged.
“Meanwhile, we feel nothing but pity for Alhaji Tukur and his NWC, who are already gloating over their “victory” over us and even had the temerity to describe us and our Governors as criminals, warning that the heavens would fall if we should meet under any platform! By being so uncouth in addressing Governors duly elected by Nigerians, Tukur and his disciples have one more vindicated our struggle to flush out these unholy undemocratic elements from our party. We are confident that this is one mission which we shall successfully accomplish by the grace of God not minding the use of State Security agencies to harass and intimidate our people..
“We once more thank our numerous members and supporters and wish to reassure them that there is no cause for worry. They should remain steadfast and continue in prayer for Almighty God to vindicate us and grant us victory in the end.”
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