• Atiku, wike return to drawing board ahead of September convention
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Prior to Thursday’s National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, tension was high. It could be visibly felt. There were series of permutations, typical of any political setting. Of course, that wasn’t surprising because politics, basically, is about interests and intrigues: who gets what and how.
The PDP, like other political parties in the land, is not new to crises, particularly those occasioned by leadership tussles. The leadership crisis between the Senator Alli Sheriff’s faction and that of Alhaji Ahmed Maikarfi’s in the PDP, few years back, is still very fresh in the memories of politics watchers.
For weeks now, the leading opposition party in the land, PDP, has been caught in the webs of leadership crisis, starting with some members calling for a change in leadership structure of the party and others angling for the status quo to be maintained.
The whole drama revolved arround Ambassador Umar Damagum, the hitherto Deputy National Chairman (North) of the PDP who was named the acting National Chairman of the nation’s main opposition party in 2023, following the removal of the then substantive National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu over alleged anti-party activities.
Since Damagum ascended the national leadership position of the party, tongues have been wagging in some quarters that he wasn’t leading the party, ably, as expected and in the right direction. Those in this school of thought believed that Damagum was not pushful enough. They equally accused him of pandering to the whims and caprices of of the former Governor of Rivers State, Barrister Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister of Federal Capital Territory in the All Progressives Congress, APC, led administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The supporters of the former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP in the last general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, are also of the strong belief that with the PDP under the firm control of Wike, it would not be difficult to hand over the party to the APC government before the 2027 general election. The battle line was thus drawn among the various groups ahead of Thursday’s meeting.
Consequently. the campaign for the ousting of Damagum and the election of a substantive National Chairman for the PDP from the North-Central, there after begun.
Former Governor of Benue State and erstwhile Senator, Gabriel Suswam, did not hide his aspiration to become the next National Chairman of PDP so as to, according to him, “complete the tenure of Dr Iyorchia Ayu” who happens to be his Tiv kinsman from Benue.
The gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Nasarawa State in the last general election, Hon. David Ombugadu, was also being encouraged by some of his supporters to throw his hat into the ring for the same position.
In a.dramatic twist, on Wednesday, Dr Iyorchia Ayu withdrew the court case he instituted against the PDP, upon his removal from office last year. The case had, largely, been the reason that had made the party unable to elect a substantive National Chairman, to avoid contempt of court.
When the PDP elected Governors, under the Chairmanship of Senator Bala Mohammed, met on Wednesday in Abuja on the issue of the party among others, they told Journalists after their meeting that “We know that they are some marauders hiding somewhere trying to factionalize our party and take one faction to go and do coalition.
“We are not going to allow that as governors. We are very responsible and we are very credible and we will make sure we resolve all the issues and unify the party for maximum efficiency and success in the next election”, the governors said.
Answering questions on the issue of the party’s chairmanship position and other National Working Committee offices, Senator Mohammed said: “We are talking about resolving all the issues and going forward, so that at the end of the day, the timeline allowed in the constitution for Congresses and what have you, would have been done.
“But certainly the public is free to permutate, to discuss and of course NEC will decide on some of these issues.
“There is no any contending forces. Who is NEC? NEC is the PDP Governors Forum and other stakeholders, so we are just a portion of NEC.
“We cannot talk on behalf of NEC, until we get there. NEC will take decisions on such issues not the Governors”, he said.
At the meeting of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the PDP on Thursday morning, its Chairman and former Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, in his opening address, said, “I must address a matter that weighs heavily on our collective conscience, the leadership of the party as it stands.
“Recalling the events that led to the ousting of the former Chairman of the Party in person of Senator Iyorchia Ayu, the current Acting Chairman has spent over a year in office whereas as the usual practice of the party, the region from whence the national officer hails from should have produced a viable candidate to complete the tenure of the former national officer.
“Furthermore, the contentious issue surrounding the office of the National Secretary has regrettably sown seeds of discord within our party.
“The ambiguity surrounding this position has led to confusion and internal strife, hindering our collective efforts to pursue our noble objectives.
“The solutions to these two challenges are clearly imbibed in our party’s constitution but deliberate litigations have made the application of these constitutional solutions impossible.
“It is incumbent upon us to resolve this matter with utmost urgency, guided by transparency, fairness, and the best interests of our party and its members”, he said.
When, eventually, the highly anticipated and the heavily hyped National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took place and ended on Thursday in Abuja, the narration entirety changed. The permutations, in some quarters, that Damagum will be ousted and replaced failed. Instead, it was commendation, rather than removal, that came the way of Damagum and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party led by him.
With the development, Damagum, the acting National Chairman of the PDP, thus survived the much touted planned removal from office.
Analysts have, however, described the outcome of the meeting as a victory for former Governor of Rivers State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike, who has been seen as the major backer of the acting chairman.
To the dismay of many, the issue of leadership change was not listed among the eleven-point agenda of Thursday’s NEC meeting.
The 98th NEC meeting of the PDP, which was held under tight security, with the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr Benneth Igwe personality supervising the security arrangement, was attended by former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP in the last election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, another former Vice President, Architect Nanadi Sambo, Minister of FCT, Mr Wike, Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Senator Bala Mohammed, PDP’s presidential running mate and erstwhile Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, serving and past Governors as well as past Ministers of PDP. Some Senators and House of Representatives’ members, among others, were also in attendance.
The PDP NEC is made up of 353 members.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Hon Debo Ologunagba told journalists after the meeting that the party’s emphasis is on the need for reconciliation and stability for now.
“Our party emphasizes the need for reconciliation and stability within the party at this time.
“Therefore, the issue of the National Chairman, Damagum, has been deferred to the next NEC meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for August 15, 2024”, Ologunagba said.
The NEC, in a communique issued at the end of its meeting that lasted for about three hours, commended the efforts of the National Working Committee in its effort towards rebranding the Party, including the new look PDP Logo, which it claimed was widely accepted by party members and Nigerians in general.
The NEC charged all Party members to continue to work together for the success of the PDP for the benefit of Nigerians and the sustenance of Democracy in the country.
The communique issued at the end of the meeting and signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Hon Debo Ologunagba reads:
“The National Executive Committee (NEC) of our great Party, at its 98th meeting today (Thursday April 18, 2024), thoroughly assessed the State of affairs of the Nation and the Party and resolved as follows:
“NEC commends all the Organs of the Party for their collective resilience, steadfastness and commitment towards the unity, stability and sustenance of our great Party despite dauting challenges.
“NEC also commends members of the PDP, with particular reference to the youths and women for their courage in resisting the antics of the divisive and anti-people All Progressives Congress (APC), especially, its desperation to emasculate the opposition and foist a one-Party State on our nation.
“NEC charges all organs, leaders, critical stakeholders and indeed all members of the PDP to close ranks, put aside every personal or group interests and work together in the overall effort to reposition and return the PDP to power at the center in the interest of the Nigerian people.
“NEC commended the efforts of the National Working Committee in its effort towards rebranding the Party including the new look PDP Logo which is widely accepted by Party members and Nigerians in general.
“NEC charges all Party members to continue to work together for the success of the PDP for the benefit of Nigerians and sustenance of Democracy in our country.
Damagum, while answering questions from Journalists on how he survived being removed from office.
“This is not a matter of life and death. I am still an elected member of this NEC. Even if I revert to Deputy National Chairman, I am still a member of NWC.
“The issue of surviving or not does not emerge”, he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Senator Bala Mohammed noted thus: “You can see there was no dissension and rancour. It was planned that the party will have an implosion. PDP is more than that, we have grown beyond all these idiosyncrasies.
“This party is a united party, that is guided by experience and constitutionality. There were a lot of permutations and mischievous thinking outside there. But we looked at all the issues and we worked along our guidelines and constitution.
“There is no problem or dissension and problem among members”, he said.
On the issue of electing a new Chairman from the North Central geo-political zone to complete the tenure of Dr Iyorchia Ayu, Bala Mohammed said, “In the next two months, we will see a lot of activities. Leadership is a responsibility. We said in September we would have come out from our congresses.
“We will look at the issue of leadership and look at the issue of our constitution where it will be. And we will do it with no rancour”, he explained.
The decision to give Damagum and his NWC members a lifeline by the NEC, is adjudged by political observers and analysts as a landmark victory for Wike and a challenge for Atiku Abubakar to go back to the drawing board ahead of the 2027 general election in the country.
