By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
As the battle for the leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party rages, Deputy Chairman (South) of the Party, Yemi Akinwonmi had declared that he is still the authentic Acting chairman.
The declaration became necessary after Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Sulaiman Nazif stated that he was incapacitated and unable to carry out the responsibilities of Acting Chairman.
In a press conference later on Tuesday, at the party’s Wadata Plaza, National secretariat and in the company of the 2019 governorship candidate of the party in Ogun state, Ladi Adebutu, Akinwonmi and the party’s National Secretary, Ibrahim Tsauri he said that he was hospitalized for a period of three months and has recovered enough to take up the duty of Acting Chairman which was bestowed upon him by fate.
Referring to the earlier meeting held by a faction of the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Sen. Nazif, he said that all their decisions were null and void but upheld their pronouncement on National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for Friday.
While declaring that there was no victor, no vanquish, Akinwonmi called on party faithful to join hands with him in piloting the affairs of the party.
“I am a man of peace, not a man of crisis. PDP has a good succession order. There is order here. The chairman is followed by the deputy national chairman one (South), followed by the deputy national chairman two (north),” he said.
On the meeting earlier presided Senator he said, “everything conducted while I was not here is null and void. At the appropriate time, we will call on a meeting of National Executive Committee, NEC and the Board of Trustees, BoT.
He added that he played no part in the fate that befell Secondus.
Also commenting on the position of Sen. Nazif that he was incapacitated, Akinwonmi responded, “Sickness is not a friend of anybody. I was on my way to Wadata Plaza when I had stroke in my car. I was at the Cidacrest hospital for three months. Anybody can be sick but I am getting back and better. It was not my making to be sick. In the past, I could not stand up but I stood up singing the national anthem here this afternoon.
“It is wrong for people to start making reference to my ill health. Anybody can be sick but I am getting better now,” he said.
Also speaking, national secretary of the party, Ibrahim Tsauri said no faction exist in the NWC, adding that Nazif only presided over the meeting of the working committee earlier because Akinwonmi was not present at the time.
“NWC was one under Secondus and there was no division. We are here to adopt the doctrine of necessity. PDP is a law abiding party, with people of integrity and respect. PDP is the only political party in Nigeria today. We never changed our name, we never changed our logo.
“Yesterday (Monday), we were faced with something very challenging, which we never expected. We have no other option but to accept the order of the court. There are people that took this matter to court. We have given the judgement to our lawyers to study,” he stated.
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