Spokesperson of the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr Charles Aniagwu, on Monday, said the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa enjoy massive support across the six geo-political zones in the country.
Aniagwu who spoke on “This Morning” on TVC, said that it was not true that the party’s constitution has been violated and challenged the media to study the provisions of the party’s constitution as regards the issue of zoning.
He said the PDP was not comfortable with any change in the party leadership at the moment because of the ripple effect it would have on it going into the general elections.
According to him, the support for Atiku Abubakar and Governor Okowa, his running mate cuts across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT.
“Its not something that is lopsided, its a united front that we are pushing together for the good of all Nigerians.
“In a democracy you don’t gag individuals on how they should express their views even though we have internal mechanisms to handle some of these wrangling and those mechanisms are being triggered.
“We are quite comfortable that in the course of time everybody will come to acknowledge that there are processes in a political party particularly when the issues are internal,” he said.
Aniagwu who is also Delta State Commissioner for Information averred that the party was following the provisions of its constitution in handling the issues assuring that the party would come out of the challenges stronger.
“I can tell you for sure that the PDP constitution has not been violated in any form or manner and I would be glad if my colleagues in the media decide to take a look at the provisions of the constitution of the PDP.
“You will discover that nobody in the course of this dispensation had offended the provisions of the party’s constitution,” he stated.
He said the Presidential candidate had no challenge with restructuring of the party especially as a candidate had emerged from the North.
“Let’s not forget that he is just a candidate and not elected yet, and hopefully in the next five months he would eventually win to become the President of this country to be sworn in on May 29 2023 and by that time we will have a proper balancing that are being canvassed for.
“But beyond now the issue of timeline to trigger some of these issues becomes a challenge because it could leave the party much more wounded than it had suffered in recent times.
“We are however excited that the campaigns are about starting and we will begin to tell Nigerians what our candidate stands for and what our party will bring to bear and how we are going to rescue our country.
“In doing so we will respect the democratic rights of every other Nigerian to aspire and to indeed address the many challenge that confronts our country today.
“We will set the example and we will let people know that in a democracy the idea of plurality of views is what makes it very thick just as majority will certainly have their way the minorities will be allowed to have their say.
“Its democracy at play in the PDP and we have gone beyond the minority having their say but to be respected even in the midst of issues no matter how thorny and discomforting they are and we thank God that our leaders respect that,” Aniagwu added.
PRESS UNIT,
GOVT. HOUSE, ASABA
