*Dismisses Purported BoT, NEC Meeting Notices Circulating on Social Media
The newly elected National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tanimu Turaki, SAN, on Monday said the party had formally notified the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command of its plan to reclaim and hold its inaugural National Working Committee (NWC) meeting at the PDP National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, on Tuesday.
Turaki disclosed this after he led other members of the newly elected NWC to a meeting with the FCT Commissioner of Police.
The visit, he explained, was part of the preparations for their first official meeting since the national elective convention in Ibadan.
The session is expected to bring together major stakeholders, including governors, National Assembly members, Board of Trustees (BoT) members, state chairmen, and founding leaders of the party.
“We are going to have the inaugural National Working Committee meeting of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party, tomorrow.
“At this meeting, we have invited all our stakeholders and founding fathers. We’ve invited all our governors and members of the National Assembly, members of the Board of Trustees, our state chairmen, and other critical stakeholders,” he said.
The PDP chairman said the leadership reached out to the police following what he described as attempts by ‘expelled’ members to circulate notices of BoT and NEC meetings on social media, insisting those behind the moves no longer have any authority within the party.
“Now, we have seen things flying on social media, a purported notice of BoT and NEC meeting given by people who, for all intents and purposes, are no longer members of this party,” he said.
He emphasised that the National Convention remains the highest decision-making body of the PDP and had already ruled on the status of those individuals.
“Next to God, in the management of a political party is the National Convention. The decision taken in a National Convention overrides every other decision that has been taken by any organ of a party.
“Our National Convention has taken a decision to expel these elements from the party. And so, they are no longer members of our party,” Turaki stated.
He said the party drew the police’s attention to the activities of the expelled members to forestall any disruption on Tuesday, stressing that the PDP leadership wants peace to prevail as it prepares to resume operations at its headquarters.
“As leaders, more than any other person, we want peace to be sustained. This democracy that our leaders, our forefathers, have sacrificed their lives to bring about to this level, we shall be ready to also give our own lives to sustain this democracy,” he said.
Responding to questions about the status of Wadata Plaza, which has recently been under lock, Turaki maintained that the PDP would return to the secretariat unhindered.
“We are holding the meeting in our National Secretariat, which is the Wadata House, and anybody that is sitting there without our consent and permission is an interloper.
“We are going there, we’ll have the offices opened, we’ll get in there, and then begin to perform the functions for which we’ve been elected,” he said.
Turaki explained that while the PDP would avoid confrontation, its leaders would not shy away from defending themselves if threatened.
“I have assured the Commissioner of Police of the FCT that while we will ensure that no breach of the peace occurs, we will go there prepared to defend ourselves and our integrity as Nigerians because the Nigerian Constitution has given us the right to defend our persons, our lives, our properties.
“And let me reiterate again for avoidance of doubt: to defend our party, to defend this nascent democracy, we are prepared to lay down our lives,” he said.
According to him, the NWC will arrive at the secretariat by 10 a.m. for the meeting.
“Our meeting is at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Circulars have gone out. We shall be there unfailingly. I, as the National Chairman of PDP, will be leading from the front, not from the rear,” he said.
Turaki added that the FCT Commissioner of Police had promised to provide adequate security to ensure a peaceful exercise.
“The CP had given us assurance that they will do everything it takes to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order. We hope that the police will make sure that they give us all the ample protection that we’re entitled to under the law, and that assurance we’ve got. So, we shall be there,” he said.
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