A factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, PDP-BoT, Mao Ohuabunwa, says politicians who met in Ibadan on Saturday merely attended a social end-of-year event among friends.
This was, as he described as illegitimate and product of an unauthorised gathering: his expulsion from the party
Ohuabunwa, in a statement by his media office on Monday also rejected a meeting announced to be held at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja.
The Abia Senator insisted that only the duly scheduled BoT meeting and the National Executive Committee session, fixed for Tuesday, would proceed as planned.
Ohuabunwa, an ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, described the just-concluded National Elective Convention of the party in Ibadan, Oyo State, as inconsequential.
“It is amusing for anyone to suggest that I, a founding father and current chairman of the conscience of our party, was expelled at a social gathering that some people are calling a convention,” he said.
Ohuabunwa recalled being present at the landmark 1998 meeting at the old Abuja Sheraton Hotel, now the Continental Hotel, where the PDP was conceived by statesmen such as Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Lar and Adamu Ciroma.
He called on party members across the country to remain calm, noting that several court rulings, including the Federal High Court orders barring the party from holding any convention, are awaiting determination at the Court of Appeal.
“As loyal party men and women, it is incumbent on us to follow the law.
“We must wait for the courts and, at the same time, embrace reconciliation and unity,” he added.
