THE WOLVES IN PDP 'LL COME TOGETHER – MAJ. GEN MOHAMMED MAGORO

By NBF News

Looking at the current push for reforms in the PDP, how does that impact on Kebbi PDP as we go into elections in 2011?

What is happening now is the era of a very long tussle which has impeded, if I may say so, the  progress of our party in Kebbi State. But we thank God that the whole thing has come to an end today.

A lot of efforts, give and take, have come into play in the sense that we have been  able to come out with a new chairman of our party in Kebbi State. When the former chairman died, he didn't die as a chairman anyway, but as a commissioner and in replacing him, there were some hiccups.

Those hiccups generated a lot of tension, which we have had. But we thank God that with the intervention of the national headquarters of the party and of course the co-operation of all other parties involved, we were then able to sit down.

The old PDP and the pre-merger PDP, were able to sit down and came up with this new arrangement. Of course, the merger agreement shows that we are the ones that have produced the chairman of the party in the state. So, we have been meeting for about two weeks here in Kebbi and we successfully came up with a new chairman. The formal inauguration will take place when the national headquarters receives the report of the zonal leadership.

The PDP in Kebbi appears to  be factionalised along the lines of 'one term' and 'two terms' for the governor. Where do you stand?

 These tendencies are expected in any organization, most especially a political organization. In Kebbi State today, we have one party. Other parties have disappeared. And normally when you have a very big party, without any opposition, opposition tends to grow from within. And that is what I will say we are experiencing. But with the appointment of a new chairman for the party, it has become his sole responsibility to ensure that the roaring wolves in the party are brought together to the table to sit down and discuss the areas of disagreement so that we can forge unity.

The ANPP is virtually dead in Kebbi State. Do you think it is because of the ascendancy of the PDP or what?

The ascendancy of the PDP in Kebbi State took place before the 2007 elections, when the governor then, who was in ANPP decided to cross over to PDP with all members of his team and of course that swelled up the population and strength of PDP. And so today, that is why ANPP is non-existent in Kebbi State.