Earlier in the week, a group of members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives announced their plan to quit the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), unless certain actions are taken, including the resignation of the Acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Illiya Damagum. JOSHUA EGBODO writes on the issues
Preempting the PDP NEC meeting?
The recent move by the group of 60 lawmakers of PDP extraction, who described themselves as being part of the coalition of opposition political parties in the National Assembly has opened different vistas, leaving the public at a seeming loss for who’s benefit the fight was initiated. It was just nine days away from the scheduled PDP’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, when the group, led by Hon. Imo Ikenga Ugochinyere made the demand for Damagum’s exit.
The PDP had in a statement announcing series of meetings which would culminate in the NEC’s which is the highest decision making organ of the party, scheduled its National Caucus meeting for Wednesday, April 17, and its Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee meetings for Thursday, April 18.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba in the statement said the “National Working Committee (NWC) of our great Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has scheduled the 98th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of our Party for Thursday, April 18, 2024.
“The NEC meeting comes after the meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) on the same date, Thursday, April 18, 2024.
“The BoT meeting will hold at the NEC Hall of the PDP National Secretariat at 10:00 am after which the NEC meeting commences at 2:00 pm at the same venue. Consequently, the meeting of National Caucus of our Party has been scheduled for Wednesday, April 17, 2024″.
But the lawmakers’ demand
While in all understanding of followers of the development, have been preparation of the party members for the scheduled meetings, the group of 60 members of House of Representatives on Monday April 8, 2024 during a press conference presented its demands, which included a call for the resignation of Damagum, and to be replaced by a member from the North Central geopolitical zone of the county, which they argued was in tune with the constitution of the party, a call they said would allow the zone complete the tenure of Prof. Iorchia Ayu.
The issues
The lawmakers raised the alarm that there was a grand plot to hand over structure of the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), by the national leadership of the party.
“Many of you may have heard rumours about ongoing events in my party, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where there have been allegations of doctoring of Caretaker Committee members lists in Rivers state and at least 10 other states. This story is quite unfortunate and I can confirm to you all that it is not a rumour but fact. We have obtained very credible intelligence on the on goings in our Party’s Wadata House National Secretariat and it does not sound right at all. We currently have in the PDP a national leadership that is in bed with the APC and is working extremely hard to hand over the party to the APC.
“Following the removal of Senator Iyorchia Ayu as national chairman of our party and assumption of office by Umar Illiya Damagun, who was elected as Deputy National Chairman to act in his stead, the party has only known misfortune and abdicated its responsibility as the leading opposition party in the country. That role which Nigerians would have loved the PDP to play as an institution it truly is has been abdicated for a plate of porridge.
“A serious leadership would have set up structures to review what, why, and how the party failed to win the last presidential election and also failed to secure majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, rather the Umar Damagum led NWC is assiduously working to hand over the party to the ruling APC and their agents. A serious leadership would have looked into the acts of open anti-party activities, established why they happened and set up measures to ensure that it never happened again in the party. A serious party leadership would have since the end of elections or even the tribunal matters gone round to thank members and rally them for the challenge ahead of being the opposition and offering credible alternative to the people. We do not have any of these. But again imagine if we had such with the current state of the nation. Imagine the suffering of Nigerians because PDP as opposition does not have direction due to the activities of Damagum and co. This is very disheartening.
“Disheartening because this is a man who is not supposed to be in the office in the first place. He was only constitutionally allowed to step in, hold the fort and midwife the process through which the North Central Zone where the Chairmanship of the party was originally zone to present another person who would complete the slot of the North Central.
“Not only did Damagun hold tight unto the seat for well over a year now, he has abdicated every responsibility of the office of the Chairman of PDP and is very comfortable serving APC interests. There had been agreement of a broad spectrum of the party leadership when it became clear that Damagum was not interested in conducting elections but to appoint Caretaker committees in at least 19 states where the tenures of the State and local government leaders were expiring to extend the tenures of these officials by three months. This decision which was made to cover every state was the wisdom that restrained Damagum from announcing a wholesale list of a majority of Caretaker Committees populated by APC agents masquerading as PDP members.
“However, despite that decision to retain everybody, Mr. Damagun went ahead and received a list of APC agents and announced them as members and leaders of the PDP Local Government Caretaker Committees wholesomely in Rivers State and partially in at least 10 other states. This is a direct attempt to kill the PDP and ensure it goes into extinction.
“To make issues clearer, we are speaking on behalf of at least 60 lawmakers in the opposition lawmakers’ coalition in the National Assembly. We all won our elections without any form of help or support from the party hierarchy. It has become clearer to us that this scenario was foisted so that as many of us as possible will fail the elections. Damagum never really wanted us to win. Against their wish, we won the election and now Damagun and his co-travellers have launched the phase 2 of their protocol which is to hand the structures of the party to interests working for the APC”, Ugochinyere stated during the media briefing.
Specific demands
The group said as a last ditch effort at rescuing the party and for peace in the PDP, it was demanding the immediate resignation of Umar Iliya Damagun as Acting National Chairman of PDP for anti-party activities and allow North Central produce the Acting Chairman as clearly stated in the PDP Constitution or watch us reconsider our membership of the party in the months ahead if the right thing is not done, or removal of Umar Iliya Damagum by the NEC of the Party with further sanctions against him for his anti-party activities.
The group further demanded that the NEC of the Party should ensure that the list of party Caretaker Committees in Rivers State and all other 10 states tampered by Damagum and his APC Friends are reversed and announced as originally agreed, that is by extension of the tenures of the outgoing leadership, and that “the move to use serving APC members in Rivers state and 10 other states to lead our party caretaker at state, LGA and ward level is the highest act of political provocation and impunity that we are going to fight with everything in us…”.
It said the NEC of PDP should review the sources of generating finance for the party to pay its National secretariat staff and to discharge all other responsibilities of the party and to investigate the allegation that pro APC supporters are funding the present PDP of today, a development it said was the height of political treason, and that PDP NEC sets up a Committee to investigate all continuing acts of anti-party activities from 2023 and mete out appropriate sanctions which will serve as deterrent and also encourage cleansing of the party, among others.
We don’t know you, PDP, Minority Caucuses disown group
A twist was however, added to the drama, as in less than 24 hours after the group presented its demands, with the Minority and PDP Caucuses of the House of Representatives dissociating themselves, insisting that the Ugochinyere-led group was not known to the parliament. This was contained in a statement issued and jointly signed by all the minority caucus leaders, Kingsley Chinda, (Caucus and the Minorityleader), Ali Madaki, (deputy minority leader), Ali Isah J.C., (Minority Whip) and George Ozodinobi, (Deputy Minority Whip).
“Our attention has been drawn to a press release by the group and state unequivocally that the Minority caucus and PDP Caucus dissociate themselves from the said press statement. The said coalition of lawmakers led by Hon Ikenga Ugochinyere is unknown to the parliament and both caucuses condemn in totality the absurd move, uncouth and unparliamentary language of the group.
“That the general public should take note that such a coalition is unknown to parliament and their demands does not represent that of the Minority parties. The said lawmakers should desist from further misinformation of the public and be more honourable in their conduct”, the statement said.
Will PDP NEC heed call?
In the view of many analysts, the building crisis may be far beyond the only allegations raised against Damagum, details of which may be bare in no distant time. The great question now is whether the PDP’s NEC will respond to the demands when it meet on April 18. The lawmakers have threatened to quit the party if their demands are not met.
If it does, what? If it doesn’t, what? Only time can provide the answers to these nagging questions.
