Registration of PDM as a party meant to weaken PDP-Anenih

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, has described the registration of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) as a political party as an attempt to weaken the PDP. He, however insisted yesterday in Abuja that  the PDM remains a pressure group within the PDP. In his opening remarks at a meeting of founding fathers and members of the
Elders’ Committee of the PDM, Anenih said that those that registered PDM as a political party have stolen their name for ignoble purpose. He said,  “I am sure that you are all aware that some people have managed to get a political party registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the same name as our own Organization. This poses a very grievous challenge to our existence”. He further said, “It is obvious that those who have “stolen” our name to register a so-called political party do not mean well for our Organization or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) within which we have operated distinctly and effectively in the last 14 years. Their aim is, obviously, to ride on our goodwill to attract members out of the PDP, with the purpose of weakening or even destroying the party.
“Our concern, therefore, about this so-called political party, is not just about the fact that these people have stolen our name, but, more importantly, that their intentions are far from noble. They seek to weaken the PDP and undermine its electoral capability.” Anenih used the forum to call  on members of the Movement to ensure that the fortune of PDM as a political party is reversed.
According to him,  “We have a responsibility to stop these people as we loyal and committed members of the PDP. Although, we have maintained our identity as a pressure group within the party these past years, we are proud to say that there has never been any clash between our PDM affiliation and our PDP membership.” He said,  “Another major source of concern is the manner in which party
registration was given to those who are now parading themselves as the PDM. There was no public notice, as would have been expected, announcing their intention and application for registration as a political party. If there had been such a public notice, we would have evidently articulated our opposition to the application and pre-empted their scheme.
“Also, there is no evidence that the so-called party had offices in the required number of States before it was registered, I reckon that this meeting of Elders and Founding Fathers of PDM will, as a body, rise up to the occasion by fashioning a definitive course of action, in line with the resolutions already reached by our zonal chapters that they remain part and parcel of the PDP.
“Our meeting today, therefore, must proffer creative, profound and legitimate ways of redressing the anomaly of the registration of the name, PDM, as a political party. We must rescue the PDM and ensure that it retains its original intent and identity. We must not allow those who were neither party to the formation nor, at time, central to its activities, hijack our identity for their selfish and negative ends.”.
In his opening address, the chairman of the PDM, as a pressure group,  Senator Abubakar Mahdi said, “To date, no member of either the Founding Father nor the Management Committee has seen any document to that effect in the registration of PDM as a political party”, stating . “Clearly therefore, there was a hidden agenda somewhere.” He also lamented that the pressure group has been sidelined, but hoped that Anenih would turn things around for the group. Mahdi said,  “No doubt the PDM has been sidelined in the current dispensation and that there is an urgent need for repositioning. I want to believe that our only man standing, the PDP BOT Chairman is capable of re-fixing us into our country’s politics”. He also called for an end to the crisis rocking the PDP, as the PDM as a
major stakeholder in PDP feels challenged by the crisis. Mahdi pleaded with PDP  leaders to intervene in order to find a lasting solution to the problems.
According to him, “We strongly feel that holding opposing views in a democracy is not the problem but failure to resolve it by leaders becomes the major challenge.  “Furthermore, please permit me to report that our teaming members across the nation are agitated and if nothing is done to rebuild confidence immediately, their continued outstanding loyalty may be impaired.”  The meeting was attended a cross section of founding leaders of the Movement, among who were  Chief Tony Anenih,  Farouk Abdulazeez who chaired the meeting, Hon.  Dubem\ Onyia, Senator  Ifeanyi Ararume, Alhaji  Murtala Yar’Adua, and Hon Chris Agbobu.