PDP Inaugurates Panel To Probe Elumelu’s Emergency As Reps Minority Leader

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has set up a committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the nomination of Mr Ndudi Elumelu as the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.

Members of the committee, which has former Senate President Adolphus Wabara as chairman, was inaugurated on Wednesday in Abuja.

The PDP National Chairman Uche Secondus was, however, represented at the event by the party’s Deputy National Chairman (South), Yemi Akinwonmi.

In his address, Akinwonmi described the action of the party as a display of internal democracy, stressing that it was the advantage PDP has over other political parties in the country.

He said, “This is what brought us to the level we are; respect for internal democracy. We solve issues by dialogue, by discussions, by looking at the two sides of the coin.

“This you will never find in other political parties in Nigeria. If you go to our sister party, you will see crises, placards being displayed, demonstrations here and there but you can never find such in the PDP because we are blessed with people that are knowledgeable, people that are intelligent, people that can think ahead of others.”

According to the PDP chieftain, the party is filled with eminent Nigerians that have served and that have contributed to the growth of the country.

He said the party finds it easy to call on them to resolve issues like that of the minority leadership of the House.

Akinwonmi added, “They are people that have seen everything about this country; they have served the party in different capacities.

“That is why the eminent gentlemen here you can’t find elsewhere in this country. These are the arrays people we are parading.”

“We want to use this opportunity to call on them to come and look at the nomination of the Minority leader of the House of Representatives and advise us accordingly.

“We have confidence in you. What we are doing here has the approval of National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Council (NEC), the highest organs of the party,” the party chieftain said.

He informed the members of the committee that the party leadership has given them three weeks to report their findings to the NWC.

In his response, Senator Wabara gave assurance that the committee would take the responsibility seriously and get to the root of the matter.

He said, “I arise on behalf of the members of this all-important committee, to accept your nomination.

“I promise on behalf of my colleagues in the committee that we will perform our duties in accordance with the terms of reference diligently, in such a manner that our members at the National Assembly will by the special grace of God remain intact and loyal to this party.”

The committee also has Professor Wale Oladukpo as secretary, as well as Yunana Iliya, Senator Ben Obi, and Mr Austin Opara as members.

Others are Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Senator Stella Omu, Margret Icheen, Hassan Hyatt, and Senator Abdul Ningi.