Former President of the Senate and one of the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Bukola Saraki, has said the national convention of the party which commences on Sunday, is the only opportunity the party has to clear the path towards participating in the 2027 general elections.
The former Senate president in an exclusive interview with the Daily Trust, said he is giving the national convention his full support so that those who want to run for elections on the platform of the PDP in 2027 can have the opportunity to do so.
He expressed optimism that once the national convention could hold despite the court action taken by the Barrister Tanimu Turaki led members of the party, the PDP would get its acts right and field candidates for various elective positions including the presidency.
“I see tomorrow’s convention as the only opportunity open to the PDP to be on the ballot paper and for some of us who have no intention of jumping to another party, we are being guided that this is our last opportunity,” he said.
“We cannot be driven by issue of personality. We should be driven by our objectives. There are people across the country that want to contest for various positions and have in the last three years spent their little resources and want to contest in the PDP, particularly the younger generation, so anything that would make PDP the platform to provide that, is where I am.”
The former Senate President said he does not belong to any faction but the ones that “believe that the most important thing for the PDP is to ensure it is in the ballot for 2027,” he stated, stressing that anything short of that would deny many who believe in the party the chance to contest.
He added: “Despite all we are doing, at the end of the day, what is important is for democracy and for the party itself. There are members of the party who want to contest elections on the platform of the party and anything that will make that to happen and bring that to reality is where I belong.”
Saraki explained that his actions have been very consistent, saying that was why he initially gave the Ibadan convention the benefit of doubt.
“If you remember few months ago, there was also a convention of the PPD in Ibadan. Some of us had our reservations, we said, ‘don’t go to Ibadan to do an elective convention, it will not work out.’ A convention where we have already seen that INEC was not going to be part of it and as such there would be a big question mark. But we were given the assurance that INEC was going to be there.”
He said he personally sponsored delegates from Kwara State to go to Ibadan for the convention so that in the event INEC officials resolved to be part of the process, his people would not be left out.
He said when it was evident that INEC would not monitor the convention, the delegates from Kwara were left with no option but to return home.
The former Senate President expressed optimism about PDP’s chances at the general elections as he said there is bound to be crisis in the ruling APC that many people were running to.
He said the APC cannot accommodate all of the defectors at the end of the day when it comes to electing candidates.
Saraki also dismissed the allegations that he was working in cohort with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike to ensure that the APC had its way at the general elections.
He also dismissed insinuations that he will ultimately leave the PDP.