26th March, 2013
Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it has set up a Tactical Committee saddled with the responsibility of wooing the opposition Governors into the its fold.
Gov. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom said this while fielding questions from newsmen in Abuja on Monday.
He dismissed the insinuation that some PDP Governors were making moves to defect to other parties, saying it was rather the PDP Governors who were poised to bring their colleagues into the PDP.
“And we as PDP Governors are poised to bring in our other colleagues (Governors) from other parties to join us, that is what we are trying to do now.
“We have set up a tactical committee to also reach out to the “opposition” so that we can also attract people because we want to be more than what we are.
“When we started, we were more than 30 Governors so there was no need for PDP Governors’ Forum . now that we have been reduced to 23, there is now need for us to come together and ask ourselves why.
”We should get back to the number. We should be over 30 after the next election. That is why we are coming together and this seems to have rattled the opposition and I am assuring them that they should challenge us on issues and challenge us on developmental issues.
Akpabio also debunked the insinuation that the crisis in the PDP had become intractable following the absence of most of his colleagues and other party stalwarts at the party’s reconciliation rally in Abuja on Sunday.
Akpabio, who was one of the two governors that attended the event at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo, blamed the poor attendance on late invitation sent out to the party’s stalwarts.
According to him, opposition parties are in the habit of making a mountain out of a molehill in any matter concerning him or the PDP because they are afraid of the ruling party.
He particularly cited the recent Calabar incident where the opposition raised unnecessary dust when he donated a “paltry” N1 million to state chapters of the party in the South-South, which translated “to no more that about N2,000 per delegate”.