By Ben Ogbemudia and Joy Moses
After months of bitter stance, the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, yesterday met in Abuja at the former minister of information, Prof Jerry Gana’s Asokoro residence.
The duo, who have been having a running battle since the PDP presidential primary, held a closed-door meeting that lasted for about an hour.
Atiku had defeated Wike in the primary, but the Rivers’ governor had indicated an interest in being the presidential running mate, but the former VP settled for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.
This later worsened the PDP crisis as Wike fraternised with leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Light, however, appeared at the end of the tunnel yesterday as the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) met over the issue between Atiku and Wike and resolved to reconcile both men.
•Party optimistic it’s first step towards reconciliation
In an earlier meeting on Wednesday by reconciling BoT, the acting secretary of the committee, Senator Abdul Ningi, told journalists that the members of the board would resolve the impasse and enable the party to present a common front during the coming 2023 general elections.
An insider told ThisNigeria that at the meeting, only Atiku and Wike were in attendance. Even the broker, Prof Jerry Gana, and others were not allowed to enter for deliberation.
In the end, it was gathered that the duo agreed to set aside their differences and work together.
The source said they agreed that a small committee would be set up to look into areas where the camps of Wike and Atiku can work together.
The committee would then report to the panel that the BoT set up to resolve the crisis.
•PDP inching towards presidency- Ayu
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, yesterday said the recent elections conducted across the country have clearly shown that the party is on its way back to the presidency.
The prospect of this, party sources say, has become brighter with the reconciliation moves between Wike and Atiku.
Ayu harped on the party’s focus on victory yesterday when he played host to former national publicity secretaries and former zonal chairmen of the party at the Wadata Plaza, headquarters of the PDP, in Abuja.
The PDP chair said, “I think that message is getting through by the series of elections we’ve gone through. In the six local government area elections in Abuja, people voted massively for the PDP. Out of 68 councillors, PDP won 48 of those councillors and APC came down to 18 or so.
“In the elections in Ekiti and Osun states, again, it was clear that the preferred party that the Nigerian people want to take over power next year is still the PDP. This is not based on lies, it is based on realities.
“It’s based on the reality of these two state elections -Ekiti and Osun-, never mind we had hiccups in Ekiti for reasons which many Nigerian and party members know, we still keyed in on the very important state of Osun.
“This means we now control the heartland of the South-West. We control both Osun and Oyo, and if you control the heartland of the South-West, you are likely to win in the rest of the South-West in Ondo, in Ogun, and, of course, the big prize in Lagos.
“So, we need to work harder to tell Nigerians the truth. We need to convey to Nigerians the failure of the APC and to go ahead and tell them what we will do for them as realistically as possible.
“People don’t vote for you for what you did for them in the past alone. They don’t vote for you if they’re convinced that when you come in their quality of life will improve.
“I want to thank you for coming for this interactive session. We’re not coming here to lecture you, we are here to listen to you and to get you to craft the necessary strategies for us to convey the best message that will make us win the next election.
“We are going to win the next election, we’ll increase the number of governors, we’ll control the National Assembly, House of Representatives, and most state houses of assembly and of course the big price friends, we shall return to the villa.”
Ayu also said the publicity management of the party is formed on the realities of their performance and the realities of what they want to do for the Nigerian people.
On his part, the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the party believes that together they can pilot the affairs of the party, and the nation by ensuring that they have a regular conversation.
“We intend to have it regularly, because that way we can begin to create communication and publicity structures and strategies for our party and, of course, for our nation, because when we get into government, we believe that this body would be a permanent fixture in such a way that there will be consultation,” Ologunagba said.
He continued, “When we took over eight months ago under the leadership of the captain, THE RESCUE MISSION captain, Iyorcha Ayu, we came in with the mandate to reposition this party. And under his leadership, we have pointedly directed by his leadership that we need to change the narrative with regards to how we communicate.”
Ologunagba added, “We started by first of all determining exactly what we want to achieve. I know we’re used to a certain mindset about how communication should go. But we came out with the mandate that we will as a party and as a National Working Committee under the leadership of the chairman and the directorate of publicity that we will confront and engage in conversation war with the liars, the liars of the APC.
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“From that moment, we directed our communication in ensuring that the communication that we have is to expose the lies of the APC with which they hoodwinked Nigeria in 2014. So, we are quite concerned about that. And we have maintained that when we come in, we know that we have to do perception management.
“We are coming from a background of the perception of lies as what would you want to start with, even the rebranding which is ongoing, and from here, you can see that already that your party is now more refreshed.
“Even from the decorations here that we have looked at, speaking to our colours, particularly the red, which is vigour, authority, power, and that’s what we’re celebrating here that our party is alive, and we are back.
“And that’s why we say when we started this process, that there will be a conscious communication of what we are as a party and as a people, and what we offer Nigerians, and that has been the trajectory we have continued to be on.
“Part of that is that right now, we as NWC (National Working Committee), under the leadership of the chairman, have directed our communication in the area of engaging the Nigerian people. And the good thing is that that message has been resounding.”
