Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for honoring our invitation.
Isaac Newton once said, “Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.” Truth be told, Party Faithfuls, ladies and gentlemen, PDP is at the verge of losing Rivers State due to the inordinate actions and ambition of the National Organizing Secretary (NOS), Hon. Captain Umar Bature.
As we are all aware, our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), will soon conduct congresses in twenty-six (26) states to elect new executive committee members at the Ward, Local Government Area (LGA), and State levels, as well as ad hoc delegates.
Sadly, it has been alleged that there is a selective and outright denial of the sales and release of forms to some interested persons or groups in certain states by Hon. Umar Bature, the National Organizing Secretary (NOS) of our great party. This is a troubling and dangerous sign that PDP is drifting towards an authoritarian and undemocratic process of electing members of the executive committee at the forthcoming Ward, LGA, and State Congresses, with Rivers State being a notable example.
Information at our disposal reveals that the Rivers State governor has been allegedly denied access to the purchase and receipt of forms for the forthcoming Ward, LGA, and State Congresses in Rivers State. All the forms have been given to the former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Nyesom Wike, via the state chairman, who is Wike’s appendage.
Ordinarily and by convention, the governor is the leader of the party and, as such, should have been given all or most of the forms. In other states where we have governors, the forms were automatically sold to them. So why is Rivers State different?
In Ogun State, for example, both interest groups were allowed to buy forms, but Hon. Umar Bature has deliberately orchestrated plans to frustrate Governor Fubara of Rivers State from purchasing the forms. The question is, who is Bature working for? Why has he allegedly refused to sell the Exco Forms to Governor Fubara?
This situation mirrors what happened in Cross River State in 2019, leading to our great party losing the state and remaining in opposition. The structures were taken from the then-Governor Ben Ayade and given to former Governor Liyel Imoke.
Hon. Bature has become the cancer that is eating up our great party, the PDP, from the inside out. We are calling for his removal. Hon. Bature should be removed before he destroys our great party.
The Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Illiya Damagum, is uncommonly accommodating the excesses of Hon. Umar Bature at the detriment of PDP. It has been alleged that Hon. Bature is the de facto Acting National Chairman due to the simple and easy-going nature of the National Chairman.
We therefore call on the leaders of our great party to prevail on the National Organizing Secretary (NOS), Hon. Umar Bature, to release Exco Forms to Gov. Sim Fubara without further delay. Otherwise, we may be compelled to use the courts and other means to stop the Congress in Rivers State and ensure that every eligible and interested party member has access to the forms.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said in 1966, “It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Thank you.
Long live PDP,
Long live justice,
Long live PDP Survival Movement (PDPSM)