PDP ON SELF-DESTRUCT MODE : MAY NOT CONTEST IN 2027 (Video)
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and member of
the House of Representatives, Ikenga Ugochinyere, has accused the acting
National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, and Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, of plotting to return 27 Rivers State lawmakers
who in December 2023 defected to the All Progressives Congress.
He accused the Acting National Chairman of the party, Umar
Damagun, of acting out a script to destroy the party and render it incapable of
contesting the 2027 elections.
He further said Damagun has gone against the tenets of the
agreement reached at the last National Executive Council meeting of the PDP,
which allowed him to remain in office until August, when a new chairman will be
elected by obtaining a court injunction against his removal.
The lawmaker, Ikenga Ugochinyere, a member of the House
representing Ideato North/South federal constituency of Imo State, alleged that
“since after the NEC meeting, which agreed for a peaceful exit for Damagun at
the next NEC meeting that will come in a few months, which will see the
emergence of a candidate from North Central as PDP Chairman, many strange
things have been happening.
The federal lawmaker also alleged that Damagum has procured
the services of one Joshua Musa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, seen as a friend
of the FCT minister to “file secret action against PDP interest”,
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday,
Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato South/Ideato North Federal Constituency of
Imo State, said, “We have called you today to give you an update on the recent
happenings in the PDP following the now-confirmed reports which spread from
last week about the PDP filing papers in court secretly in aid of the defected
27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who are no longer lawmakers
after they left PDP for APC and their seats were declared vacant.
“While we cannot speak about the issues of bribery
allegations and the receipt of the sum of $2m by those behind this shocking act
of betrayal of their party, we can, however, authoritatively speak to you about
only what we can and have confirmed to be facts and to be true.”
“We can confirm to you that the PDP has filed a Motion for
joinder in Suit No. FHC/PH/CS/90/2024, a suit filed by the remaining members of
the Rivers State House of Assembly to declare the seats of the 27 defected
members of the Assembly vacant.
“We can also confirm that the PDP led by Umar Damagum and
the Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade using a personal lawyer of FCT Minister
Wike, also filed a counter affidavit to the said suit and a written address
opposing the prayers to declare the seats vacant and insisting that the sacked
APC lawmakers are still PDP members and should be left alone to continue the
activities against the PDP-led government in Rivers State,” Ugochinyere said
“First, they went to
secure an ex parte order that Damagum should remain in office using APC members
who are parading as PDP members,” he added, stressing that “In an action that
looks like payback, Damagum-led NWC now hired a lawyer to file court papers
seeking to reinstate sacked APC lawmakers to enable them to attempt an
impossible task of illegally removing Governor Siminalayi Fubara from office.”
“Also, a strange court action which the Damagum-led National
Working Committee is not opposing, came out from nowhere, ordering NWC to allow
the PDP caretaker list filled with APC members to be inaugurated. Strangely,
our PDP NWC allowed APC members to take over our party structures.”
He also tasked legal stakeholders to interrogate the manner
ex parte orders are procured by political actors, saying “The Legal
Practitioners Privileges Committee needs to immediately establish measures to
determine whether any person under its authority has done anything warranting
its disciplinary action.
“The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court needs to address
this issue and save the institution from this image-damaging scandal. Was this
the reason Uche Secondus, Celestine Omehia, and Austin Opara rushed off to the
Court of Appeal to challenge the order restraining them from attending the PDP
NEC meeting without bothering to challenge it before the judge at the Federal
High Court?” he asked.
“We call on the National Executive Committee of the PDP, the
Board of Trustees, and all other men of goodwill to take another look at the
current leadership of the party and agree with us that Damagum is a clear and
present danger to the PDP and its survival. He has now come out openly and is
no longer disguising his loyalty to the APC. Urgent action is required now,” he
further said.
Ikenga Ugochinyere’s exposition at the press conference underlines
the status of the main opposition party in Nigeria.
Since the misadventure of the G5 governors at the 2023 Presidential
polls, the group led by the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom
Wike, has continued to work with some leaders of the party against the interest
of the party. The minister and his ilk have on several occasions pledged their
support for Bola Tinubu, even in the 2027 elections. Contradictorily, they
still want to own the party. Particularly fingered in the conspiracy against
the PDP is the acting National Chairman of the party, Ambassador Umar Damagun.
With a leadership that rests on shoulders of men who openly
work for the opponent party and against the interest of the party, the chances
of survival of one-time Africa’s largest political party are very slim.
In another development, some members of the PDP at various levels have threatened to dump the party if the actions of Wike and other Pro-APC factors in the PDP are not sanctioned. They believe Wike and Damagun are only manifesting a grand plot to turn Nigeria into a one-party nation by killing the PDP or at least weaken the party to the extent of not being able to provide viable opposition to a Tinubu Presidency in 2027.
Either way, PDP seems on a path of self-destruct if the soul
of the party is still in the hands of the present leadership or their cronies.
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