According to former PDP National Legal Advisor Jacob Mark, 2027 presidential candidate Peter Obi ought to be pleading with the party to bring him back, not the other way around.
He claims that with 37 state chairmen, the PDP is more organized than other political parties, which can only claim a national chairman and executives in every ward and local government in the nation.
He said that any politician should be interested in the PDP because it is a very large machine.
According to the DAILY POST, Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra State, quit the PDP before the general election in 2023 after realizing he would not be able to run on the party’s only ticket.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, he joined the Labour Party and ran for president, finishing third behind the candidates of the PDP and the All Progressives Congress, or APC.
Professor Jerry Gana, a founding member of the PDP, had expressed his wish on several occasions for the former governor of Anambra State to rejoin the party and perhaps serve as its presidential candidate.
But speaking on Arise News on Thursday, Mark said that Obi’s return would be a welcome development but insisted that the party has not reached such a decision, not disputing the fact that Obi is a sellable candidate.
He said, “First of all, I am not sure anyone, in my opinion, denied Peter Obi when he showed interest to run for the presidency under the party in 2023.
“He left before the primaries of the PDP to join the Labour Party. And so he was not denied. He had a right of choice, and he elected to go to the Labor Party.
“Now, currently, while so many people may be of the opinion that he can come back to the PDP, I think the decision is entirely his, and I’m also not sure that the PDP as a party has sat down to say that he should come back and take the ticket of the party.
“These are generally personal opinions that are built sometimes on very cogent reasons. There is no doubt that Peter Obi, following his showing in 2023 is a brand that every political party would like to have. The same way, there is no doubt that the PDP has been a brand. So if two likable brands come together, it is easy to predict the result.
“But I don’t think we have gotten there yet where the party, I mean, the PDP has taken a decision to say it has to be Peter OBI, or it must be Peter Obi. He’s a very fine brand. Many people believe in him and are following him. So it’s not difficult to say yes, if he comes to PDP, it could be a good sell to the electorate.
“Besides, elections are supposed to be a litmus test of what the generality of the people want, and so if there is a candidate anywhere who is sellable, it won’t be wrong for any political party to move such a candidate to fly its ticket. And it should be like that.
“2027 is still two years away, and I’m sure there are many, many candidates that will show up very soon. For me, Peter Obi can return to PDP, but that is his choice, and it is not premium.
“He’s coming to PDP is not a premium desire or ambition. If he comes, he will be welcome. If other people who have left also come, they will be welcome back as always but I’m not sure there is any united decision to beg or cajole Obi to come back to PDP.
“No, that was just an expression of hope that if he wants, he can come back to the PGP. It may be his best chance, actually, at getting a shot at the presidency. It could be. But nobody has made it a primary target to say, go all out, let all party members go out and get Peter Obi to come back to PDP. I’m not sure it’s one of our agenda.
“We should be interested in reorganizing the party in such a way that it takes its position as an opposition party, it begins to play its role and strengthens itself at the national level, particularly, let all these wranglers at the national level, because the states are intact.
“We have 37 state chairmen. Unlike other political parties that have only one national chairman and no state chairman, we have escorts in all the states.
“We have executives in all the local governments of this country. We have executives in all the wards of the country. That is a very big machine that any politician should be interested in holding.
“So it’s not a party that should be cajoling or begging someone to come, No, it is the candidate that wants to win the election that should look at what is available in the PDP and desire to take it.
“Probably those who say Peter Obi should come forward and join the PDP, rejoin the PDP are seeing him as taking advantage of a machine that could give him what he’s looking for.
But it’s not as if this is the agenda of the PDP. I don’t think so. The PDP is open to all newcomers and is welcoming old members.
“Some that went into the coalition are back now, and they have been welcomed. The last meeting we had saw a return of so many of them, and you could hear the former governor of Jigawa, the former governor of Niger state, all of them initially went to the coalition, but they are back.”
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