The intrigues ahead of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting took a fresh twist yesterday as the PDP caucus in the Senate rejected calls for the resignation of the party’s national chairman, Umar Illiya Damagum.
The leader of the PDP Senate Caucus, Abba Moro (Benue South) described the calls for Damagum to resign as ill-timed and inappropriate.
There have been agitations for Damagum, who hails from Yobe State (North East), to resign as acting chairman of PDP and pave way for a national chairman from the North Central zone as originally planned by the party.
The recent call for Damagum’s resignation was made by opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives led by the member representing Ideato Federal Constituency in Imo State, Hon. Ugochinyere Ikenga, who accused Damagum of working for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as for failing to call the statutory quarterly NEC since he replaced Senator Iyorchia Ayu as the PDP acting national chairman last year.
The agitation for Damagum’s resignation draws from a raging battle for the PDP’s soul between camps led by the party’s presidential candidate in 2023 Atiku Abubakar and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Nyesom Wike.
The NEC meeting, which is scheduled for this Thursday, would be preceded by other strategic meetings from Tuesday, including PDP governors forum meeting, the PDP Caucus and the Board of Trustees (BoT).
So far, former governor of Benue State, Senator Gabriel Suswam, former minister Humphrey Abba, (Kogi State), Dr Emmanuel Agbo (Benue State) have indicated interest to emerge as chairman of the party. They all hail from North Central.
However, Moro, reacting to the call for Damagum’s resignation, said the call was a personal opinion of Ugochinyere as it does not reflect the opinion of PDP federal lawmakers, especially PDP senators.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Emmanuel Eche’Ofun John, Moro said the call coming few days to the long-awaited and most anticipated NEC meeting of the party was a needless ruffling of feathers.
On the scheduled NEC meeting, Moro said it would afford members of the NEC to ventilate their opinions on the goings on in the party.
He added that party leaders and members look forward to a very robust discussion on the issues concerning the party and Nigeria at the meeting.
On the seat of the PDP national chairman, the senator who noted that it is a very crucial issue, said there was no basis for anyone to suggest that the seat be thrown open or zoned to any other region apart from North Central.
He said PDP had a constitution, the grand norm of its existence, which provides for two deputy chairmen. He said where there’s vacancy, the deputy chairman of the zone where the embattled national chairman comes from will act. He said he didn’t subscribe to any call for the seat to be thrown open or zoned to any region aside North Central.
He counselled that if the party must regain its lost glory and remain formidable as the biggest political party in Africa, then NEC members must go into the next meeting with some level of circumspection so that the baby is not thrown away with the bath water.
Commenting on the APC government, Senator Moro said the strange bedfellows that seized power in 2015 seem not to know what to do with power. He said everything had gone haywire in the country. According to him, everything about governance in the country at the moment is wrong.
“Nigerians are hurting. The cost of living is so high that Nigerians cannot afford two-square meals a day. Even the reported appreciation of the naira against the dollar, which is a mind game being played on Nigerians by the APC government, has no impact on the prices of things in the market. Things are getting worse by the day and in the face of this grinding suffering, the government has gone ahead to increase electricity tariff. I think this is the height of insensitivity,” he lamented.
On opposition politics, Moro said it was unfair to say that PDP has not been playing opposition politics. According to him, “Opposition is not fighting. We are not going to war with ourselves but we have been voicing out the ills of the APC government.”
On disciplinary measures against erring members of the party, he said NEC would not sit in Abuja and compile names of members who acted in ways and manners that undermined the party in the last elections.
“Relevant organs of the party have relevant responsibilities to discharge to the party. NEC cannot sit in Abuja and write names of party members A or B that acted to undermine the party in the last elections, that’s the duty of the various ward EXCOs,” he said.
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