The Peoples Democratic Party is considering the possibility of changing its name before the conduct of 2019 general elections.
Investigations by The Punch showed that this was one of the conditions given by those who left the party before the 2015 general elections to join forces.
It was gathered that this might be one of the issues to be discussed by the party at its hurriedly called National Executive Committee meeting, which holds in Abuja on Thursday (today).
A statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that the NEC meeting would hold at the party’s national secretariat.
However, no mention was made concerning the agenda of the meeting.
Nevertheless, investigations showed that the national leadership of the party would use the meeting to brief 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 next elections.
A member of the National Working Committee of the party, who spoke with Punch on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the issue of name-changing or not would be tabled at the meeting.
He said, “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.”
When contacted, Ologbondiyan 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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