We Are Remaining In APC, Says nPDP
Loading ...Kawu Baraje, Leader of the new Peoplesโ Democratic Party, nPDP, which fused with the All Progressives Congress, APC, has said that the group would remain in the ruling party.
He stated this on Monday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen after a closed-door meeting with the members of APCโs National Working Committee, NWC.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Mr Baraje and the group recently submitted a four-page letter of grievances to the APC leadership and gave it seven days to address the issues.
The group alleged that its members had been badly treated, sidelined and persecuted in the APC.
Mr Baraje told journalists that the group had begun sorting out its grievances with APC leadership.
โAs you are aware, we requested to see the party leadership, and the party, very sensitive and responsible, responded to our requests adequately and we think it is a very encouraging time,โ he said.
He explained that the leadership got across to the group last week, asking for a meeting which could not hold because of some logistics.
โWe couldnโt come until today; we begged the party to shift the day till todayย and today we have seen our party.
โWe are party members, this office is ours; we have only come home to discuss those observations; the meeting was very beautiful,โ he said.
Mr Baraje, however, said that discussion of the issues would continue, explaining that โwhen talks begin, you canโt say it will end on a particular day, it goes on and on.
โIt may please the party to say letโs shift the meeting to another venue to discuss with other stakeholders; so far, we have started talks.
โBut, it is a good start, it is a good beginning,โ he stressed.
On the splinter nPDP that recently countered his groupโs demand on APC, Mr Baraje said such was bound to happen in politics, adding that the group he represented wasย 95.9 per cent intact.
He denied that the group threatened APC leadership with ultimatum, saying โwe only suggested that there was need for APC leadership to attend to our petition within seven days.
โWe had in mind, the partyโsย congresses and National Convention.
On his part, APC Deputy National Chairman, Shuaibu Lawal, who led otherย NWC members to the meeting, said the party was taking the groupโs observations and disaffection seriously.
โWe have not yet resolved; they wrote to us, they are party men, they have grievances, we looked at the letter and their grievances are genuine.
โThey requested a meeting within sevenย days and before the seven days expired, I called them and they were not ready to come.
โThey said we should shift the meeting to today, which we did,โ Mr Shuaibu, who stood in for the partyโs National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said.
