The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, on Friday revealed that Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed personally requested him to suspend the recent national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Wike said Mohammed visited him at his residence, urging that the convention be put on hold to allow time for dialogue among aggrieved party members.
Speaking during his monthly media briefing in Abuja, the minister emphasised his commitment to fostering reconciliation within the PDP.
He stated he is ready to ensure that all aggrieved members of the PDP resolve their differences and emerge united.
Wike said, “Politics is like football; it’s not hard to reconcile. We have had our differences, and this is where you made a mistake, so that is what we are doing. Now that we have come to this point, let’s be sincere; it’s not too late. PDP is still on the ground to make an impact coming out of the crisis.
“We tried as much as we could for them to see reasons why we must all come together and why we are at this point we are. Bala Mohammed, last Tuesday, called my ADC to say that he wanted to speak to me, and he said he wanted to see me because he was just coming from Lagos. I said I’m not in town, but when I’m around, I will give you a call, and he said he would be waiting.
“And of course I fulfilled my promise by calling the next day and telling him that it would not be within the time I said because I was going to the airport to receive Mr President. Around 11pm, he came to my house, and we were discussing. He said, ‘Look, can we put off the convention so that we will be able to sit down and discuss?’
“I said no, that would be wrong because you can’t shoot yourself and expect me to shoot myself too. The court said do not hold this convention, you set up a committee made up of prominent Nigerians and they came up with a resolution to you, so now that the tenure of the incumbent NWC is almost coming to an end, it will help us so that nobody will go in a divided form, you refused that advice and accused the committee which you setup of being compromised. You had your so-called convention and went back to the Federal High Court in Ibadan to validate your convention; we did not.”
