A former National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ibrahim Tsauri, has thrown his weight behind the call for the PDP members to join the African Democratic Congress, ADC-led coalition against President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH, Tsauri, who served in the Uche Secondus-led national executive, said the party’s leaders who today constitute the soul of the ADC must have seen good reason to abandon the once dominant political party.
At a meeting in Abuja last week, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate president David Mark, and former governors of Jigawa and Sokoto states, Sule Lamido and Aminu Tambuwal, among others, asked party members to join the ADC to save the country in the 2027 general election.
“The meeting encourages all well-meaning PDP members and other patriotic Nigerians to join the coalition. All coalition partners must be united on the issues of national unity, democracy, national security, national economy and the political will to stamp out corruption embedded in our institutions.
“The PDP, which is organic with the discipline, capacity, and history to lead and save Nigeria, is now a shadow of its old self. The heatwave unleashed by the APC-Federal Government through threats, blackmail and patronage has forced elected officers in government to abandon the PDP,” Mark said in a communique he read at the end of the meeting.
Reacting to Mark’s call, Tsauri said, “Staying in or joining a political party is purely partisan; it is not divine. Nobody is compelled to stay in or join any political group, party, or association. The truth of the matter is that those people who are calling others to join the ADC are the face of the PDP. If they call on others to join them in building another political party, I believe they have their reasons.
“The way the PDP train is moving as of today is worrisome, and we believe that there are foreign interferences that are bent on making the party part of history. Yet, those who are optimistic feel that the party with 10 governors cannot be politically waved off for a party which has a local government councillor.
“Leaders calling on others to join ADC are people with proven political integrity, experience, respect, commitment, name, and value. No politician in Nigeria will question the political values and capacities of Atiku Abubakar, Sule Lamido, David Mark, Aminu Tambuwal, Babangida Aliyu and a host of others who are calling on others to join the ADC.”
He added that the call to join the ADC would not lead to the death of the main opposition party.
“The question of whether PDP will allow its members to leave does not arise because if we talk of PDP, these people have a percentage ratio of ownership. They are calling on PDP supporters to join the ADC as a platform that can be politically used to salvage and save Nigeria from the present situation, where no system is working. None of them ever said they wanted PDP dead.
“Do not forget that there are people in the PDP who came out openly fighting the party to a standstill, and the leadership of the party did nothing to them.
“I see nothing wrong in calling those who have lost confidence in the PDP to join whichever political party they feel may save Nigeria from the grasp of the clueless APC government,” he added.
He mentioned that there was a chance the Atiku-led government would return to the PDP in the future.
“If the PDP holds a successful convention, it may call on Atiku, Mark and others to rethink and come back to the house they built. I believe their coming together under the PDP will give the APC a more uncomfortable sleepless night than under the ADC,” he added.
