… no other congress in the South South
Nelson Utip
Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and immediate past governor of Rivers State over the weekend called the bluff of The NWC of The PDP, challenging their stance on the just concluded South-South zonal congress.
Over the weekend, some members of the PDP, mostly loyalists of The FCT Minister, conducted the South-South PDP Zonal Congress in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, ignoring a court order against it.
A High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, had issued an interim injunction preventing the conduct of the zonal congress but Wike and his loyalists including a former Governor of Cross Rivers State, Donald Duke, participated and voted at the Congress.
Meanwhile the NWC of the party has disowned the exercise, saying that the party is not in any way involved in the “said gathering in Calabar”.
However, in a goodwill message before the exercise in Calabar, Nyesom Wike said that there has never been a congress or convention where all delegates participated, he charged delegates at the Congress to elect officials who will defend and protect the party:
“The South-South Zone is the strongest zone of the PDP in Nigeria. It has always been and will always be. There is no part of the constitution that says congress should be postponed because of a wedding or travelling.
“There has never been a congress where every delegate was present. I want to assure you that this is the final zonal congress of the South-South Zone. After the election today, no other zonal congress will hold.
“This is our job, our terrain, and we are not new to this. Nobody can intimidate me and I don’t need to be a governor. Let us put ourselves together in truth and ensure our party remains united and we can only be united when we are truthful.” The Message read.
