Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, has described the opposition to the endorsement of former Minister Tanimu Turaki as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) consensus candidate for national chairman as “normal” and part of internal party politics.
His reaction followed reports of disagreement among northern leaders of the PDP over Turaki’s endorsement ahead of the party’s national convention scheduled to hold in Ibadan next month.
Barely 24 hours after Adamawa State Governor announced Turaki’s endorsement, a group of PDP members from the North-West, led by the party’s National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, rejected the decision, saying it was made without adequate consultation.
Speaking after the inaugural meeting of the Accreditation Subcommittee for the convention, Governor Lawal, who chairs the committee, said the endorsement was made “in good faith.”
He supported the position of northern stakeholders who met in Abuja on Wednesday night, saying that any member dissatisfied with Turaki’s endorsement could contest at the convention.
“No matter what we do, some people will still be aggrieved,” Lawal said. “Even if we bring you, some people will say no, you have an issue. It is normal; it is part of politics. What we are doing is trying to bring everybody together in the interest of this party.”
He added: “It is an ongoing process, and I can assure you that things will be okay. It is normal to have agitation. You can see we have gone through a lot in the past, and now things are getting better day by day. I am very sure, very optimistic, that we will bounce back. In fact, we are already bouncing back.”
The governor also emphasised that the PDP constitution provides for consensus arrangements, saying, “There is nothing new. It is okay. It is normal. It is part of our constitution in the PDP.”
Meanwhile, the North-West PDP leaders led by Umar Bature held a separate meeting in Abuja where they disowned Turaki’s endorsement.
Bature told journalists that the North-West had not agreed on any consensus candidate, explaining that the meeting to adopt one was postponed.
“The North-West has not met to agree on that position,” he said. “That’s why we came for this meeting, and unfortunately, that meeting again was postponed.”
He added: “There is a lot of resentment due to a lack of consultation among the leaders of this zone. We believe we are the strongest zone in the PDP, and the attitude of our leaders in this regard made us take this position that we disagree with the governor’s position of yesterday.”
Bature maintained that the zone would nominate its own candidate, adding: “North-West is the zone to which the national chairmanship has been zoned. We feel it is unfair for other zones to determine a particular candidate when this zone has not been consulted.”