The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has frowned at fake news purporting divisions in the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
Ekweremadu described the reports as “cheap blackmail, smear campaign, and extreme propaganda” and urged party faithful and supporters not to be distracted by the lie mills as the nation approached the critical stages of the 2019 elections, but to remain focused on delivering the votes to ensure the success of the PDP.
The Senator, who took to his social media handles @iamekweremadu, to make the explanations, said: “My attention has been drawn to the orchestrated attempts by some characters to create the impression of a divided house in Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the coming presidential election. Such characters dish out fake and divisive stories without source on a daily basis and attribute same to me.
“While I refuse to be distracted by such cheap blackmail, smear campaign, and extreme propaganda, it is important to reassure our supporters that the PDP is united and focused on wresting power from the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“After the PDP lost the presidency and majority status at the National Assembly in 2015, I made it clear that I would stand by the party, no matter what. It took other party stakeholders and I a lot of efforts, sacrifices, soul-searching, and painstaking negotiations to hold the party together and rebuild it. If I did not abandon the PDP at its darkest hour, it does not make the slightest sense to say that I abandoned it now that its sun is rising again.
“Meanwhile, I have held separate meetings with our Vice Presidential candidate, Peter Obi and the Chairman, South East Governors Forum, Dave Umahi, to work out strategies for the success of our party and candidates in the coming elections. We are also setting up a meeting of South East PDP stakeholders by weekend to continue to strategise on the coming elections.
“I have no doubt that the South East leaders will deliver the region overwhelmingly to the PDP and I expect that other leaders will also do the same in their respective geopolitical zones”.
