From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said former information minister, Professor Jerry Gana, is free to express his opinion on the 2027 presidential candidate of the party.
The National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, stated this yesterday, while responding to a question on comments made by Gana that former president, Goodluck Jonathan, would contest the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the party.
Ologunagba, who stated that he is neither spokesman to the Minister nor Jonathan, noted that the PDP is presently focused on its forthcoming national convention scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
“I don’t speak for Professor Jerry Gana. People can express their opinion. But, I will emphasise that in this party, as we are today, President Jonathan is a member; he has not said he’s not a member.
“But, I can tell you, today, this party has eminently qualified Nigerians, particularly at the governors level, who have done exceedingly well, that Nigeria can tap on that and say, step up to the place and do the right thing, because their performances in their state show their capacity, which is actually the DNA of the PDP.
“I invite you to have a peer review mechanism between PDP states and the APC states. This is the conversation we should be having for the Nigerian people to look at PDP and see the array of qualified people that are there.
“So, I don’t speak for former President Jonathan. I don’t speak for Jerry Gana, with all due respect. But our party is focused on our convention. And when we get to that bridge, we’ll cross it.”
Also, the PDP spokesman noted that the opposition party was yet to hold its congress in Cross River State to elect a new State Working Committee ( SWC).
He added that party members, who met in Calabar, last weekend, on the guise of state congress, merely staged a carnival and became hallucinatory, thereafter.
He said the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) had duly rescheduled the state congresses in Kebbi, Cross River and Plateau states and communicated the same to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The party had in a statement, also signed by Ologunagba, on September 24, postponed the Cross River State congress earlier scheduled for September 27, stating that a new date would be announced in due course.
Some members of the PDP in Cross River proceeded with the state congress, where they ‘elected’ a new executive to pilot the affairs of the party in the state.
However, Ologunagba explained that following the postponement of the Cross River State congress, the PDP neither sent an electoral committee nor constituted an appeal panel to entertain any complaint that might arise from the exercise.
He said: “Clearly, there was no state congress held in Cross River State for the PDP, for election of the State Executive Committee of the party.
“You know we are going to the season of carnivals now in Cross River State. If people were there, according to you, these people just went there for the pre-carnival for Christmas and it is okay.
“Calabar is a friendly place for people who want to enjoy life. I think they are there for that purpose. I am not marketing Calabar, but I know people go there to have some good time, drink brandy and all that.
“This party has a process. That you imagine that you can sit down and get some people together and have drinks, and call it a Congress, that is hallucination.
“There is a process. For you to have a Congress, the NWC will constitute an electoral panel. We didn’t constitute that. So, that’s why I say that it is a hallucination. It is an excitement, a carnival.
“So, what happened if it did happen, which I’m not aware of and the party is not aware of is a pre-carnival for Christmas.We are almost in October, so we can get in the mood. For emphasis, there was none. There was no Congress in Cross-River State for the PDP, and because it was postponed, along with that of Plateau and Kebbi states.”
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