PDP to resolve leadership crisis August; Damagum continues as acting chair

Arising from its much-anticipated National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shelved the resolution of its leadership crisis to August and directed Ambassador Umar Damagum to continue to lead the party in an acting position. Daily Trust reports that the presence of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the FCT […]

Arising from its much-anticipated National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shelved the resolution of its leadership crisis to August and directed Ambassador Umar Damagum to continue to lead the party in an acting position.

Daily Trust reports that the presence of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike at both the party’s national caucus meeting late Wednesday night and the NEC meeting had raised eyebrow but neither of them made any statement after the meetings. Aside from Wike, the other members of the G-5 he (Wike) led against Atiku’s presidential ambition were also in attendance.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, Bauchi State Governor and the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Bala Muhammad, disclosed that the party will revisit its vexed leadership crisis.

He said, “In the next two months, you will see a lot of activities. Leadership is a responsibility. When we come out of our congresses, we will look at the issues of leadership. We will look at the constitution, and we will do it with no rancour.”

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Daily Trust reliably gathered that following the insistence of the North Central Zone that it was its constitutional right to provide a replacement for the suspended Iyorchia Ayu, the region was prevailed upon to allow the acting chairman, Damagum, to conduct the coming congresses before a new chairman comes in.

Speaking in the same vein, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, said because of the need for reconciliation, the issue of the national chairman will be revisited in August when another NEC is expected to take place.

“Our party emphasizes the need for reconciliation and stability within the party at this time. Therefore, the issue of the National Chairman, Amb. Iliya Damagum, has been deferred to the next NEC meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for August 15, 2014,” Ologunagba said.

PDP chair not a do-or-die – Damagum

Fielding questions after the meeting, Damagum said the tussle for the chairmanship position was not a matter of life and death, adding that even as Deputy National Chairman, he remains a member of the NWC.

He said there is a “need to constitute a strong reconciliation committee to unite our many aggrieved members, especially those that fell out during the last party primaries. It is better late than never.

“We must urgently reposition and strengthen the party for effective and constructive opposition, bringing to the table acceptable alternatives of policies and programmes in the governance of our dear nation; we must also, as a matter of necessity, bring the concerns of Nigerians to the forefront of political discourse.”

 Litigations hindering solutions to crises – BoT

Speaking during the opening session of the meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party before the NEC meeting, the BoT Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, said a plot by some members to subvert the constitution of the party through deliberate litigation in the issues concerning the chairmanship and secretary of the party was what was hindering the solutions proposed for the leadership crisis.

Wabara, who recalled events that led to the ousting of the former chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, lamented that “the current acting chairman has spent over a year in office, whereas as the usual practice of the party, the region from which the national officer hails should have produced a viable candidate to complete the tenure of the former national officer.