•Umar Iliya Damagum
Despite numerous consultations and meetings, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) remains in a conundrum on how to oust the party’s embattled acting national chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagun.
The latest of the consultations was Thursday’s meeting of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) in Abuja where members expressed frustration at “the current state of affairs in the PDP, particularly with regard to the administration of the party,” reports The Nation.
And for the umpteenth time, the BoT spoke of its disappointment at the “continued shifting by the NWC in convening a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.”
This delay, it said, “not only undermines the trust and confidence of our members but portrays our party as having been hijacked by certain interests.”
It was gathered that midway into the meeting, news reached the BoT members of the defection of the PDP House of Representatives member from Ethiope in Delta State, Eriethake Ibori-Suenu, to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Rep is the daughter of former Delta State Governor James Ibori.
The BoT members were said to have perceived the defection as yet another fallout of alleged incompetence of the current National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
They reportedly blamed Damagum in particular for the situation and thought his time was up.
A former PDP acting National Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, who is also the BoT Secretary, was said to have played a critical role in calming nerves as discussions at the meeting became heated.
Majority of the BoT members expressed deep lack of confidence in Damagum’s leadership which observers interpret to have reflected in their demand for the party’s National Working Committee (NWC to “immediately commence the restoration of internal harmony, unity, stability and public confidence in the party by respecting the PDP Constitution and adhering to the zoning of NWC offices to the various geo-political zones in the country.”
The BoT in a communique at the end of the meeting also demanded that the NWC “should show leadership, honour its word and convene the NEC meeting as scheduled in February 2025. This is critical for resolving pressing issues and charting a clear path forward for the party. Any further postponement will exacerbate existing challenges and may spell doom for our Party.”
It asked the leaders of the North Central Zone to “immediately convene a meeting of North Central stakeholders with a view to nominating a replacement for former National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.”
But Damagum supporters are optimistic that he will serve out his ‘term’ which, according to an interim injunction he recently obtained, will expire in December 2025.
One of his supporters who does not want to be named said: “It is wrong to say that he (Damagum) is afraid of being removed if a meeting of PDP National Executive Council is convened in February as demanded by both the PDP Governors’ Forum on November 23 and the BoT on Thursday, November 6.
“He just told us that a court of law has already affirmed that he cannot be removed until the next convention late next year, but if he ceases to remain acting National Chairman, his Plan B is to quietly continue in his position as Deputy National Chairman (North).”
By virtue of Article 35 (2) and (3) of the PDP Constitution, Damagum stepped in as the party’s acting National Chairman following the exit of Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
Supporters of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar want him out as they see him as working for the interest of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike.
Wike himself is not in the good books of Atiku and his supporters.
They blame him for making the PDP lose the 2023 presidential election.
