According to the information gathered, a senior party leader who requested anonymity, the Peoples Democratic Party may be forced to rely on provisions of its constitution to address challenges to its election prospects from Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and his four resentful colleagues.
Wednesday’s Vanguard gathering in Abuja heard that the party leadership’s new way of thinking is not conducive to clichés.
The party head said, “Wike and his friends have already caused the party damage with their behavior and remarks as things stand.
Our party constitution’s Section 58 (1) is crystal clear regarding the authority to punish disloyal members at any level
Subject to the terms of this Constitution, the party shall have the ability to discipline any member who says or does anything likely to bring the party into discredit, hate, or contempt, (f) engages in anti-party actions,” the section in question reads.
The party leader clarified that these powers are not granted to an individual by the process and procedures as they are written in the agreement.
He maintains that everybody who is suspected of committing an offense must be given the chance to defend themselves in front of a panel that has been properly assembled.
He added that this had to happen after such a person or people had received both verbal and written warnings.
However, he pointed out that in instances of egregious or substantial wrongdoing, which may result in summary dismissal, these processes may be omitted.
The party leader stated specifically, “If you look at Section 59 1 (h) of the same constitution, it states that any member who “engages in any conduct likely to cause disaffection among members of the Party or is likely to disrupt the peaceful, lawful and efficient conduct of the Party’s business” commits an offense and is subject to sanctions such as suspension or even expulsion upon conviction.
However, according to a different party source, “We had hoped that some sort of settlement would be reached, but this seems far-fetched to some of us.” All signs point to Wike and his group have made up their minds.
We have an election coming up, therefore the last thing we can afford is this unnecessary diversion, so we cannot degenerate to the point of dancing naked in the market square as they would like us to. We’ll let the party handle it since it has a strategy for handling situations like this.
The governor of Rivers State, as well as his counterparts from Benue, Oyo, Enugu, Ifeanyi, and Abia, have remained steadfast in their demand that Ayu is replaced by a southerner because both the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the director general of his campaign, Aminu Tambuwual, are northerners.
In the upcoming days, Wike and the others in his group are anticipated to make a statement regarding their top candidate for president.
Should the five governors follow through on their threat to name one of the party’s opponents as their candidate, some party leaders plan to take action against them
