Ahead of 2019 general elections, the Peoples Democratic Party is said to be considering the possibility of changing its name. Punch reports that it is said to be one of the conditions given by those who left the party before the 2015 general elections.
Name change is also believed to be one of the issues to be discussed by the party as it has called an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee meeting on Thursday, April 19.
Kola Ologbondiyan, the national publicity secretary of the party, in a statement said the NEC meeting would hold at the party’s national secretariat. However, the media outlet reported that there was no mention about the agenda of the meeting.
Going further, it also reported that the national leadership of the party would use the meeting to brief the PDP’s NEC on the outcome of its discussions with defectors and other members of other political parties that had been contacted to return to the party ahead of the elections. A member of the National Working Committee of the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was said to have confirmed that the issue of name-changing is real.
“It is true that some people are asking us to change our name. We are considering it. But we can’t do it alone. We need to consult widely on it. While doing that, we also need to be careful so that we are not misled.
“Is the advice genuine or is it borne out of hatred to mislead us ahead of the elections? We are looking at many possibilities. Are some people trying to mislead us, or they want to really join us to win power back in 2019, or they are planning to mislead us? We will also look at the legal possibilities and encumbrance.”
However, Ologbondiyan, when contacted said he did not know the agenda for the meeting.
“The agenda will be known tomorrow. It is not something I can tell you now. In fact, I don’t know it,” he said
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