We are remaining in APC – nPDP

Alhaji Kawu Baraje, Leader of the new Peoples’ Democratic Party (nPDP) which was popularly circulated in the news eight days ago as threatening the APC over what it described as marginalization of his members, has said that the group will remain in the governing party.

Baraje, who spoke after the expiration of the bloc’s seven days ultimate elapsed Saturday without either President Muhammadu Buhari or APC leadership gave them a pinch, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen after a closed-door meeting with the members of APC’s National Working Committee (NWC).

The group, asides marginalization claim, had alleged in its list of grievances that its members had been badly treated, sidelined and persecuted in the APC without making himself clear whether the roles its members only had played in the APC arrangement since it took over power on May 29, 2015 were worthy of patriotism or sincere party membership.

It would be recalled that Governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai, following the nPDP ultimatum last week, had dismissed their threat of quitting the APC to mean nothing as Buhari, according to the non-nonsense governor, he had always won in states they call their stronghold even when they worked as PDP’s members against the President in 2003, 2007 and 2011 until he finally became President in 2015.

El-Rufai however noted that much as democratic politics is about game of addition and not subtraction, the party would be ready to sit down with any member with genuine grievances and address same.

Recall also that another leading figure in the nPDP bloc and former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullah Adamu, in conjunction with Honourable Ibrahim Jibrin, had written another letter countering the claims of marginalization as stated in the Bajare’s letter saying the letter did not represent the entire members of the nPDP.

Surprisingly, Timi Frank, who had since November 2016 been expunged from the governing party over what was said to be his many anti-party activities, told the press on Friday to further drive home the group’s threat saying Buhari and APC’s unyielding stances towards the bloc’s threat would have adverse effect.

Frank said the APC leadership should go back to history and see that the threat of his group was real, a reechoed threat that did not gain a moment of attention from the President and the Party.

Speaking on Sunday, however, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje in Ilorin on Sunday denied that the New PDP ever issued an ultimatum to the APC.  He nonetheless said it only made a point on grievances of its members which the leadership was being asked to look into.

But in the latest development on Monday, Baraje told newsmen that the group had begun sorting out its grievances with APC leadership.

“As you are aware, we requested to see the party leadership, and the party, very sensitive and responsible, responded to our requests adequately and we think it is a very encouraging time,” he said.

He explained that the leadership got across to the group last week, asking for a meeting which could not hold because of some logistics.

“We couldn’t come until today; we begged the party to shift the day till today and today we have seen our party.

“We are party members, this office is ours; we have only come home to discuss those observations; the meeting was very beautiful,” he said.

Baraje, however, said that discussion of the issues would continue, explaining that “when talks begin, you can’t say it will end on a particular day, it goes on and on.

“It may please the party to say let’s shift the meeting to another venue to discuss with other stakeholders; so far, we have started talks.

“But, it is a good start, it is a good beginning,” he stressed.

On the splinter nPDP that recently countered his group’s demand on APC, Baraje said such was bound to happen in politics, adding that the group he represented was 95.9 per cent intact.

He denied that the group threatened APC leadership with ultimatum, saying “we only suggested that there was need for APC leadership to attend to our petition within seven days.

“We had in mind, the party’s congresses and National Convention.

On his part, APC Deputy National Chairman, Sen. Shuaibu Lawal, who led other NWC members to the meeting, said the party was taking the group’s observations and disaffections seriously.

“We have not yet resolved; they wrote to us, they are party men, they have grievances, we looked at the letter and their grievances are genuine.

“They requested a meeting within seven days and before the seven days expired, I called them and they were not ready to come.

“They said we should shift the meeting to today, which we did,” Shuaibu, who stood in for the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said.