2019 ELECTION: We won’t leave PDP, says Governors’ Forum

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said they would remain in the party irrespective of the outcome of the appeal pending at the Supreme Court. The governors who met in Abuja on Thursday night also expressed the hope that the leadership crisis in the PDP would soon come to an end.

Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, who briefed journalists at the end of the meeting, said whatever the position or statement by any of the governors concerning the crisis in the party remains an individual opinion. “What is important is that as individuals, we are still loyal to this party.

Whatever statement, whatever position we have taken before this meeting is still our personal decision, personal statement,” Fayose said. Fayose, who is Ekiti State Governor and his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, had threatened to leave the party if Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff wins at the Supreme Court. But Fayose expressed the hope that the outcome of the court would further unite the party, adding: “There will be no winner, there will be no vanquished.”

He said the governors had resolved that wherever the party goes, there they would go. “Today, the party met to further reaffirm our confidence in the PDP, believing that the PDP stays and stands united to win elections in 2019. We believe in the PDP and we believe in the tomorrow of this party.

“That is the essence of our deliberation and we believe that we will come out stronger than ever before,” he added. Present at the meeting were Governor Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom ), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta) Ipalibo Banigo (Deputy Governor, Rivers) as well as the host governor, Fayose. Some members of the National Assembly and Board of Trustees (BoT) also attended the meeting.