PDP crisis: Damagum not Wike’s stooge –Warmate

There have been calls for PDP acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum to step down to make way for someone from North Central where the former occupant of the position comes from. What is your reaction to this? Let me say that the party has not said anything like that. In the last NEC meeting, the issue of leadership change was concluded.

I have the minutes of the last NEC meeting, and that is why I said the call for the resignation of the acting National Chairman does not hold any water. At this point, this is not the most important thing for the party. The most important thing for the party is, who can unite the party? Who can take the party to the next level? That is the most important thing.



If you remember during the 2023 presidential election those supporting Atiku Abubakar, what were they saying? They say, he is a candidate who can win for us, not zoning. That was what they said. And today, what we need is somebody who can unite the party.

Before Damagum came on board, the party was in serious internal wrangling, some of which fell out of the presidential election. But since he came on board, he has been able to navigate through the interests of individual leaders and see how he can stabilise the party. He has achieved a lot in that regard.

What pains people like us who have been in this party since 1999 is that there have been some elements who have joined the party, and by God’s providence, have given the opportunity to occupy one position or the other. Instead of them taking those positions and remaining quiet, they are taking advantage of those positions to undermine the party that has given them that privilege. I’m talking of no other person than someone like (Ikenga) Ugochinyere.

Reggae legend Bob Marley once said, ‘Silence the liar with truth.’ And that is why I want to expose the lies and propaganda of Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere because he is feasting on the ignorance, sentiment and poor reading of our constitution, to mislead the people. Ugochinyere joined PDP in 2022.

Before then, he left the National Youth Council of Nigeria to form the Action People’s Party, and became National Chairman. If he was that popular, why didn’t Ugochinyere contest on that platform for the House of Reps? He left that party and came to PDP. And PDP graciously, gave him the ticket, because of the amendment of Section 50 (4 and 7) that took place in 2017.

And he was able to contest the election and became a House of Reps member. Having gotten that position, we have issues in the party. There are internal mechanisms to express these grievances.

But Ugochinyere did not explore any of these mechanisms, went straight to the media, simply because he is being sponsored by nobody else but the Rivers State governor. But is PDP united under Damagum, because it seems that PDP is dying? There is a lack of unity in the party at the moment. No, PDP is not dying.

PDP is doing better, because when you meet a crisis situation, it is not a day’s job. If you are resolving a family matter, it takes several meetings to resolve it. Damagum is resolving the crisis in PDP.

Before now what you notice was a lot of missiles in the media, but Damagum is talking to the people on why the party should be united. But you notice that close to NEC meetings, those who want to install their stooges as National Chairman will spark up a media war. That is what is happening.

I was discussing with someone, and asked him, point to one National Chairman who was not accused of being in one leader’s pocket or the other. They are saying that the acting National Chairman is being controlled by (Nyesom) Wike. Didn’t we say that (Iyorchia) Ayu was in Wike’s pocket before they later said he was in Atiku’s pocket? But that is not the issue.

The issue is that Damagum has been able to stabilise the party. That is the issue. One thing with him is that he is not a noise maker who comes to the media and tells people what he has done for the party.

That is one thing that is working against him. And another thing, why people like us who have suffered in the party are standing by him is because he made a statement, let bygones be bygone. And when we analyse that phrase, there is a lot of sense in it.

Wike, sometime ago, said some people love the President in the night, they will accuse the President in the day. Sule Lamido, a founding father of this party, said all of us have committed one anti-party or the other. So the only way forward is Damagum’s plan, Let bygones be bygones, let’s forgive ourselves, and come together and see how we can move the party forward.

Anybody that is not ready, we can excuse the person from the party. But we cannot claim that everybody is clean. That is what Damagum is trying to do, talking to people.

But you also know, these are matured people, these are fathers, they have their interests. To persuade them to drop their interests is not an easy task. Damagum has achieved a lot of milestones, so he should be commended.

PDP leaders should commend Damagum. If Damagum should act, just like the Deputy National Publicity Secretary said on national TV: Ayu has suspended this person, Ayu has suspended that person. If Damagum had adopted that approach, by now, many of our leaders would have been suspended.

People still wonder why Damagum’s NWC did not intervene in Edo State, before the Deputy Governor left the party, or in Rivers State before the defection of the 27 lawmakers. Is it how to unite the party? I am trying to avoid talking about Rivers State because I’m from there, because I will be brutally honest. The Damagum-led NWC has invited my governor at least five times, and I dare Governor Fubara to deny it.

Even the day my governor met with Mr. President, my governor, was invited; the NWC said they wanted to meet him, and they wanted to hear from his point of view. Damagum was the first to call the governor when this crisis started; he called Wike when this crisis started, and asked them, what was the situation? What is happening? The National Chairman cannot come to the media to say, ‘I called this person, I called that person.

’ He will not come, because it is the internal affairs. The governor and Nyesom Wike, all agreed it is internal affairs. Wike said it is a family matter; the governor said it is an internal family matter.

Nobody is bigger than the party, even the President. So why not honour the invitation of the NWC? In Edo State, the Deputy Governor was also invited, to explain the situation. But what happened? You know how human beings are when it comes to ambition.

I was a member of the electoral committee in Edo State. I visited this man (Deputy Governor) and told him, ‘Sir whatever mistake you will make, don’t leave PDP.’ So Damagum is doing all his best to persuade the people, but to some, their ambition is worth more than the party.

But this is not the first time PDP is passing the same route. There are other precedents. When Adamu Mu’Azu left, somebody from the North-East replaced him.

Why is the case of Damagum becoming different? Let me say this, no thanks to someone like late (Ahmed) Gulak. The former governor of Bauchi State Adamu Mu’Azu. They brought him because of the struggle of Hon.

Gulak, may his soul rest in peace, because of his struggle, Mu’Azu benefited from it. But what did Mu’Azu do? Based on the allegation by Chief Bode George, on the eve of the presidential election, Mu’Azu left Nigeria. What a height of anti-party! He left Nigeria under the guise that his wife was sick, and left the election.

In other words, he sold the election. So if that is the issue, there is nothing like a zone. What we have is the region, North and South.

Any other thing is within these regions, and based on understanding to (micro) zone the positions. What the (PDP) considered is the region or part of the country. That is why there are two Deputy National Chairmen, so that when you leave, that same region will not be deprived of the position.

So it is not about the zone. The region is the primary; the zone is secondary. The zone is unconstitutional, it is about political agreement and understanding.

So when people are saying that Damagum should leave, they forgot the fact that Section 35 (c) and 45 (2) are there. They jumped and went to 47 (c). Even that 47 (c), are you going to pick somebody out of the NWC, given the experience we have had? Is Damagum not a member of NWC? Is he not a Northerner? If he is not a Northerner I will be at the forefront to call for him to go.

But Damagum is a Northerner. Perhaps, you can further enlighten us, what is the difference between region and zone? They are interchangeable, like in Section 47 (c), it says area and zone. It doesn’t mean it is that geopolitical zone that produced the National Chairman.

And because of this provision, some of us would like to make a proposal to the Constitution Amendment Committee to make clarification. As it is now, Damagum is not sitting on the seat unconstitutionally. What we gathered was that there would have been a leadership change at the last NEC meeting but for the scheduled congresses.

Don’t you think the issue will be visited when NEC meets again, probably this month? Well, I don’t work on speculations. I have a minute of that NEC meeting, and there is nothing like that. Are you a member of NEC? I’m not a member of NEC, but I’m privileged to have that document because it is in the public space.

The National Publicity Secretary who is constitutionally authorised to read the NEC communiqué read it, and in that communiqué there was nothing stating that Damagum will leave as acting National Chairman. They stood down discussion on the national chairmanship. Somebody like Ugochinyere, because he has been contracted by the governor of Rivers State, has raised a lot of lies and misled party members and Nigerians.

He claimed in his press conferences that in the next NEC meeting Damagum will democratically step down as acting National Chairman and a North Central person will emerge. That was a big lie, just to paint somebody black and remove him. But they will not succeed, Damagum will remain there, I assure you that.

But why is this Damagum issue creating tension in the party? It is not the first time PDP is experiencing this. I know that when they removed Chief Vicent Ogbulafor, Okwesilieze Nwodo, from the South-East, the same zone replaced him, when Mu’Azu left, Se Ali Modu Sheriff, from the same zone, North East replaced him. These two incidents are not just from the region.

Why is this Damagum case becoming difficult? There are precedents in both ways. It is political understanding within the region or part the National Chairman comes from, just like zoning. It is not in the constitution.

I have conducted congresses where in some states there was consensus. Let me give you an example. As a member of the congress committee for the FCT, we went there, and the stakeholders told us that they agreed that it will be by consensus.

And we worked with the consensus candidates. What the constitution recognised in North and South. The Chairman that left is from the North, and Damagum is from the North.

Just as I said, the whole thing is because of the NEC meeting that is coming. Immediately after the NEC the tension will die down, because everybody wants his stooge to be there. Would you agree that Damagum is Wike’s stooge? No, no, definitely everybody will accuse the Chairman that is coming to be a stooge to somebody.

Damagum is not a stooge to Wike. One thing that makes people think that Damagum is a stooge to Wike, is because a lot of people want Damagum to suspend Wike. Before Damagum came on board, why didn’t they ask Ayu to suspend Wike? Wike went to court to stop the party from suspending him.

Yes, Wike went to court but the court gave judgement that if you want to suspend any party member, not Wike alone, follow due process. Nobody is above suspension. (Justice) Omotoso gave that judgement if I’m not mistaken.

Anybody can be suspended, but follow due process. The court respected the constitution of the party. That is not the issue.

The issue is interest: who will protect my interest as National Chairman? It is not because Damagum is not from the North Central. Let me give you another example, we heard that Atiku is bringing a former governor of Benue State. We also heard that some other people are bringing candidates from other states but within the North Central, to be the National Chairman.

Everybody said Wike brought Ayu, but who did Ayu work for at the end? The Damagum matter is about interest; the political gladiators in PDP want to protect their interests. What is happening in PDP today is interest wrangling and not internal crisis. And I want to warn my governor to desist from sponsoring Ugochinyere.

The same person Ugochinyere is fighting today was once Ugochinyere’s sponsor. The governor should know that tomorrow the highest bidder can sponsor Ugochinyere whose stock in trade is propaganda, (and he) will also work against him. He worked as a former governor of Kwara State; he worked for the former governor of Rivers.

Today he is fighting the former governor of Rivers State that contracted him to do a job. Another thing is, the people around my governor are political neophytes. Why did I say so? How could my governor be told to leave a party like PDP and join APP, because of party structure? I was told that the state secretariat of APP, the structure is owned by the governor’s chief of staff.

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