•Umar Damagum
A coalition of opposition lawmakers in Nigeria has raised concerns over an impending wave of defections from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), claiming that two governors and 40 lawmakers are preparing to leave the party.
The warning was issued during a live broadcast by the coalition’s spokesperson, Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato Federal Constituency in Imo State, reports Saturday Guardian.
He called on the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) to take urgent action to address what he described as an internal crisis threatening the party’s future.
Ugochinyere said the party’s leadership must act immediately to prevent further erosion of its base, including rectifying the process of appointing a new acting national chairman and removing individuals he accused of undermining the PDP.
“It’s very important to start on this note that those days we were so scared would come are now here with us as it had to do with your position and the PDP,” he said.
“We cried, we fought, we begged the PDP leaders to stand up and rescue the party. That you have an impostor in the person of Umuadamagu, and a treacherous political human being in the person of Samuel Anyanwu.”
He criticised PDP governors and stakeholders for failing to address concerns that have persisted for two years.
“We said if the right thing is not done, this party will disintegrate before our own very eyes. If Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Laah, Adamu Chiroma, and all the founding fathers of this party were alive today, they would be crying over how the once biggest opposition in Africa has been turned into a political dog that barks without biting.”
Ugochinyere expressed frustration with the party’s handling of its leadership crisis.
“When I was removed, the right thing to do was to convene a NEC meeting and find a replacement from North Central. But every time, there was one excuse after another—Salah, Easter, Christmas, public holiday. For two years, the leaders of this party could not find a solution to the problem.”
He accused the acting national chairman, Umar Damagum, and the party’s national secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, of deliberately weakening the party.
“For two good years, Damagum has stayed with Anyanwu to carry out a very simple task, which is to decimate the party. I listened and I saw Damagum say our faith is in God’s hands. That is rubbish and an arrant statement. Nonsense.”
Ugochinyere questioned the invocation of divine intervention, saying: “Damagum, why are you bringing God into this? Where was God when you allowed a NEC meeting to be delayed indefinitely? Where was God when you filed a court case in support of lawmakers who defected to the APC in Rivers State, triggering the current crisis there? Where was God when you gave party structures to members of the APC?”
He also accused Damagum of enabling the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, to work with the ruling APC while retaining PDP membership. “You gave Wike permission to join the APC government while remaining in the PDP. You’re the one encouraging defections everywhere, and you still sit in a position you have no legal right to occupy. You’re a very wicked man,” Ugochinyere said.
The coalition has called for the immediate expulsion of Wike, Damagum, and Anyanwu, urging the NWC to take control of the party and restore discipline within its ranks.
