Members of the ‘Fresh PDP’ on Saturday willingly dissolved the group after a marathon meeting with some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Led by Chief Olukayode Akindele, the group agreed to drop its decision to create a breakaway faction of the opposition party and pledged loyalty to the Uche Secondus-led PDP.
The decision was reached after a peace meeting held at the Abuja residence of a former National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, in Abuja.
Notable among those present at the meeting were a member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Stella Omu and the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbodiyan.
Besides Akindele, other members of the Fresh PDP at the meeting were Duru Ihuoma and Franklyne Edederan who lost out at the party’s December 9 convention.
The Fresh PDP had, mid-December, opened its parallel secretariat PDP in Abuja to register its dissatisfaction with the outcome of the convention.
The group has also renounced its plans to inaugurate a separate National Executive Committee on Monday, January 22.
Speaking after the meeting, Nwodo disclosed that the reconciliatory process enjoyed the backing of the national leadership of the party and the BoT.
According to him, no conditions were given by the group for agreeing to dissolve itself, stressing that members were enthusiastic youths that would be useful to the PDP in the 2019 elections.
Also speaking after the meeting, Ologbondiyan declared that the group’s grievances had been addressed and that the PDP remained united across the country and in the diaspora.
Nwodo described the disbandment of the group as the best gift the PDP can give to Nigerians, saying, “A lot of people thought our house was divided and was about to cascade down.
“But we want to assure you that by God’s mercy, an internal reconciliation capacity of the PDP, the cracks that you noticed have been completely sealed off”.
The ex-party chairman stated that the PDP will displace the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019, adding that the government has proven to be insensitive to the feelings of Nigerians.
He noted that the administration has failed in its duty of protecting the lives of the citizenry and therefore has no business being in government.
Nwodo said, “Today, by what has happened here, we are sending a powerful signal across the country that the PDP wants to assure all Nigerians that we will not disappoint you.”
“The members of the Fresh PDP that is now disbanded are young vibrant politicians. If a leader is leading, and nobody is following, he is taking a walk. PDP is leading and mentoring the young ones to take over.
“The wish of a father is that his offspring will be bigger than him. If a father does not bring an offspring that will surpass him, he is not a good father. It means he doesn’t want his future to be better than his past”.
Erstwhile chairman of Fresh PDP, Chief Olukayode Akindele, stated that his members were forced to breakaway owing to what he described as acts of impunity in the party.
Akindele said, “But the issue of impunity and imposition had forced us into this situation because in PDP we don’t have any mechanism to address it.
We have a mechanism for reconciliation. Reconciliation is when you have a dispute.
“But when a criminal political act is committed, then what you need is restitution. But we have received assurances from our leaders here that this will be addressed and today while it marks the end of Fresh PDP, it brings a PDP that is caring and wants to address issues that may affect it in the primaries.
“We have been having these meetings for a long time. An executive meeting was held at 5am today (yesterday) in the interest of the nation and the party so that we won’t have a parallel NWC come Monday.
“That has been cancelled and we have surrendered the list to our leader here and we want to assure that this is the best thing that can happen to PDP”.