Udom Emmanuel, governor of Akwa Ibom, says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will resolve its internal crisis before the 2023 elections.
Emmanuel, who is the chairman of the PDP presidential campaign council, spoke in an interview with ThisDay newspaper.
While expressing optimism that the internal wrangling will soon be over, Emmanual said every vote is important if the PDP must win the 2023 elections.
“We are trying to take the right step. That’s why you are asking about a few issues in our party, and I said, of course, we are making progress. We’ll resolve all issues. You can’t let anybody go in an election; every vote matters,” Emmanuel said.
“Every single person is important in politics, not to talk of when you’re talking about very big men. Small men like us will go and prostrate ourselves before them: please oh, big men, don’t let us down. I’m into this game to win. I don’t think anybody will get to this point and be doing permutation. What kind of permutation?
“But they are not unhappy with me as Udom Emmanuel. Did they tell you they were unhappy with the party? Four of them are candidates of the party. They hold tickets of the party. They’re members of the party; you are getting it wrong.
“Even spoons and plates hit themselves and create a lot of noise; that doesn’t mean they’ve broken. It doesn’t mean they’ve broken. I think that is the situation here. For the fact that people are unhappy, it is inevitable, definitely inevitable, with a large party like PDP. It is the largest party in the whole of Africa.
“So, certainly, we all make mistakes. I must also confess as a party, we’ve made mistakes, and as individuals, we’ve made mistakes. But these mistakes, I can assure you, will not break us. We are trying to come back, review and then reappraise and see how we can move forward, and I can assure you, we’ll do that.”
Emmanuel added that the PDP will win the 2023 elections and that he wouldn’t have been the chairman of the party’s presidential campaign council if he wasn’t sure of victory.
“I say I’m not looking at any permutation. I’m going into this (election) with optimism because if I’m going with permutation, it means I shouldn’t be the chairman of the campaign council. I’m going with optimism. I would not have accepted being the chairman if I was not optimistic that I’m going to win. So, we are in the race to win. There’s no permutation in this case at all,” he said.
Five governors of the PDP led by Nyesom Wike of Rivers have been at the forefront of calls for Iyorchia Ayu to step down as national chairman of the PDP, on the grounds that the presidential candidate and chairman cannot be from the same region.
But Ayu has stayed put, prompting the governors to boycott the party’s presidential campaigns.
