As the National Executive Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party is ongoing in Abuja, 60 opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives seeking the removal of the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, on Thursday, warned of the dangers of delaying the decision till August 2024.
The group’s spokesman and member representing Ideato South/Ideato North Federal Constituency of Imo State, Ikenga Ugochinyere, disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja, on behalf of his colleagues.
Recall that the 13 PDP governors met in Abuja late Wednesday and resolved that removing Damagum from office would not be in the interest of the party, adding that instead, the party should work towards resolving its internal wrangling in some of its state chapters.
But Ugochinyere’s statement read in part, “We say to the last-minute plan to shift today’s expected stepdown of Umar Damagum as acting National Chairman of the PDP to August 2024, before a candidate from the North Central Zone can take the chairmanship position of the party.
“This is a last-minute plan by the All Progressives Congress loyalists in the PDP backing him up to give them room to use the extension period to inflict irreversible damage on the PDP by filling the over 19 PDP state executives with pro-APC members as state party officials. NEC members must stop this madness today if they want the PDP to survive.
“The plan to give Damagum a soft landing till August 2024 is to give room for the election of APC members as PDP state executives in the over 19 states where the PDP will be holding party congresses, thereby, planting those who will massively decamp to APC to create the impression of crisis in the party. The NEC must arise and state it clearly and give our party the leadership it deserves.”
Ugochinyere also noted that the excuse often given for Damagum’s continuous chairmanship was the suit instituted by the suspended PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, challenging his removal from office in March 2023, noting that following the withdrawal of the suit by Ayu, Damagum has no right to continue to remain in office as acting National Chairman.
“Ayu’s case was used as an excuse for Damagum to attempt to elongate his illegal stay in office. But to their shock, Ayu made a huge sacrifice by withdrawing his case from court, to pave the way for the emergence of a North Central candidate as the National Chairman today.
“However, the APC agents controlling Damagun after their secret meeting, came up with a new agenda now being sold to party members to allow Damagum handover by August 2024. To many, this is seen as a victory in the struggle but for us, it is a fraudulent and illegal arrangement targeting the upcoming congresses in over 19 states where the tenure of PDP State Party Executives will lapse before the August handover,” Ugochinyere warned.
The group further said it would reject any plan to extend Damagum’s stay in office, saying it would amount to a rape of the party’s constitution, adding that if allowed, the development “will deny the North Central Zone their legitimate right as enshrined in section 47(6) and will pave the way for pro-APC forces to plant pro-APC officials as our State Party executive officers in over 19 states.”