Group Declares Support For New PDP Acting National Chairman

A group under the aegis of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Progressive Vanguard (PV) Plateau State has pledged its support to the new Acting National Chairman of the party, Hon. Abdulrahman Mohammed, following the suspension of Amb. Umar Damagun over alleged incompetence and flagrant disregard for Court Judgments.

They also rejected in totality the purported suspension of the National Secretary of the PDP, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, the National Legal Adviser, Kamaluddeen Adeyemi, the National Organising Secretary, Hon Umar Bature, and the Deputy National Legal Adviser, Ikechukwu Osouha, by a few members of the NWC, led by Amb. Damagun, after a kangaroo meeting.

The chairman of the group Alh Isa Kwarshak and Secretary Hon. Amos Tongwe while addressing newsmen in Jos said from the way the hurried meeting was convened showed an apparent contravention of article 5, 36(1)(b) of the PDP constitutional as amended in 2017 adding that those purportedly suspended, were not even aware of the NWC’s meeting because, they were not informed.

“To us as a group, we viewed the purported suspension as ill-conceived, illegal, null and void and should be rejected by all well-meaning members of our Party. We also view the step taken as a deliberate attempt by Amb Damagun to frustrate the concerted efforts to conduct a successful National Convention in line with the dictates of the Party’s Constitution and the Guidelines of the 2025 National Convention.

LEADERSHIP recalls that a Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Omotosho, delivered a judgment which barred the PDP from proceeding with its planned 2025 National Convention, citing breaches of the PDP constitution and disobedience to the Court order by Amb. Umar Damagun.

“Instead of Amb Damagun and his clique in the NWC, to accept the Judgement of the Federal High Court in good faith and a window opportunity for the Party to correct their mistakes have resorted to self help and personal vendetta against some members of the NWC to aggravate the problems of the Party thereby deeming the hope of genuine reconciliation and resolution of all the contending issues affecting the party.

They further stressed, “If Damagun and his clique in the NWC were genuinely committed to a peaceful reconciliation, and they should have fully complied with the Orders of the Federal High Court Abuja, to bring to an end all the lingering Court cases.

PV also lamented how critical stakeholders of the Party, like the former Governor of Jigawa State, H.E. Alh Sule Lamido, the former Governor of Rivers State, who is currently the Minister of the FCT, Barr Nyesome Wike, the former Governor of Abia State, Okey Ikpeazu, former Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose and many others, have been sidelined in the affairs of the Party in the build-up to the 2025 National Convention.

“We have recently also watched in utter shame and disbelieve, how the Amb Umar Iliya Damagun led clique humiliated, Alh Sule Lamido, a renowned founding member of the Party, and how he was frustrated, and denied the right to purchase the nomination form to contest for the position of the National Chairman of the Party, zoned to the North West geopolitical zone, in crass display of illegality, impunity, dictatorship and discrimination, against some critical stakeholders of the Party perceived as opponents within the Party.

According to the Progressive Vanguard, as a law-abiding group, they have aligned with the position of the NWC under the leadership of the New Acting National Chairman, Hon. Abdulrahman Mohammed, to cancel the planned 2025 National Convention, based on the Judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja, pending the outcome of the interpretation of the Judgement by the Court of Appeal..

The group then called on the teeming members and supporters of PDP in Plateau State and the country at large, to align and continue to support the New Acting National Chairman, Hon. Abdulrahman Mohammed, and Members of the NWC, as well as the newly inaugurated BOT members, in their effort towards reconciling and repositioning the Party ahead of the 2027 general elections.