The deputy national publicity
secretary of the All Progressives congress (APC) and member of the new Peoples
Democratic Party bloc, Timi Frank, has said that the group cannot be
intimidated and would not be taken for granted.
The so-called new PDP, or nPDP,
comprises former members of the main opposition PDP who defected and teamed up
with the APC ahead of the 2015 elections, and helped the party win the polls.
Now, the group claims it has been
sidelined by the APC. Last week, it issued an ultimatum for the ruling party to
act. The ultimatum expired Tuesday.
Mr Frank, speaking to journalists
on Tuesday in Abuja, said the APC was yet to initiate talks with the aggrieved
nPDP as the bloc’s ultimatum expired.
Following the ultimatum given in
a letter to the chairman of APC party, John Oyegun, lamenting the lack of
appreciation of their efforts, another faction of nPDP led by former governor
of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, distanced itself from claims of
marginalisation.
Mr Frank condemned Mr Adamu’s
move and those who distanced themselves from the claims and demands of the
group, while urging Nigerians not to take Mr Adamu and his group serious as
they were never genuine members of the nPDP bloc.
“Today makes it seven days from
the day our group brought this letter to the party. But as it stands, we have
not gotten any response yet from them. As we have said, whatever we must have
said in that letter, it is not an empty threat. If they fail to ignore us, so
be it. But at the appropriate time, we are going to respond to Nigerians based
on what we’ve said.
“It is not just a mere threat, it
is not just a mere ultimatum but I will tell you clearly that we are meeting
our leaders, we are going to come up with a clear positions to brief Nigerians
on our next step if finally they don’t attend to us.
“I want to make it very clear
that we have no faction in our group. I saw in some of the papers I read today
that there is crack in the new PDP.
“There is no crack as far as we
are concerned. We only have one group. We have only one leader and he remains
Kawu Baraje, and I can tell you that clearly without fear or favour, and I want
to make it known to all of you that Baraje is not alone in that letter.
“He has the mandate of over 95
percent of some of us who joined the new PDP into the APC that make new
victories successful in 2015,” he said.
On the claim of marginalisation
which the Adamu-led group denied, he said members of nPDP never got any key
appointment except that of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and
Women Affairs Minister, Jumai Alhassan.
“People were elected in their
various states, they were elected by their people to represent them in the
Senate and in the House of Representatives. They never got there based on the
fact that the new PDP should be able to benefit because they contributed in
bringing the change and the government of today, therefore, let’s reward them
with these positions. So, this is not true.
“It is very clear within our
group today. The only two beneficiaries we can remember in our group are
Ameachi, the Minister of Transportation, and Hajiya Alhassan, the Minister for
Women Affairs. So, I want to make it very clear again that we are not going to
be intimidated by any group or anybody,” he said.
When asked if they would allow
new party leadership at the next convention before any action, he said it would
be late.
“There is a legitimate leadership
of APC right now and it has powers and opportunity to address the grievances
and resolve issues with our group,” Mr Frank said.
Mr Frank said the next line of
action by the group is that the leaders would take further measures which would
be made public if APC fails to respond to their demands.
Recalling what led to their
departure from PDP, Mr Frank said the same situation is about to repeat itself
and the PDP did not heed the group’s caution until it was too late.
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