PDP governors, Atiku, Wike camps intensify positions at make or mar NEC

• Party restricts attendance, says NEC meeting will address leadership concerns, party unity
• Reps caucus meeting ends in chaos over expulsion of Wike, retention of Damagun
• Group urges Atiku to drop 2027 ambition, demands sanctions for Wike
• Those expecting PDP to explode will be disappointed, says Wabara, BoT chair

The battle for the soul of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to reach a climax as stakeholders of the main opposition party hold its 98th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting tomorrow after its caucus and Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting today.

The jostle for control of the party’s structure, amendment of the party constitution, review of the 2023 election, reconciliation of members and state congresses will dominate the agenda at the make-or-mar meeting.

The national caucus meeting is scheduled to be held tonight at a Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro. The PDP Board of Trustees and the NEC will also hold their respective meetings at the PDP headquarters at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Thursday.

There are already concerns that the strict restrictions announced for tomorrow’s NEC meeting may not favour loyalists of the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

In a statement yesterday, the national publicity secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, declared that all those who are not constitutionally recognised as members of the PDP NEC should stay away.

“For accreditation, only constitutionally accredited members of NEC will be allowed into the meeting. All party members should please take note and be guided accordingly.”

Ologbodiyan further said the NEC meeting will focus on bringing the party together and addressing Damagun’s assumed position as acting national chairman.
Speaking on Arise News TV yesterday, he said: “I do not think the meeting on Thursday is going to be about ‘are we electing a leader or are we discussing leadership’? What the meeting is about, from what I am picking among leaders and members, is whether would Damagun remain in office or be replaced.

“There are those who have come up with the argument that the vacancy does not exist in the office of the chairmanship and they argue that Damagun is there because the constitution provides that where the chairman ceases to exist either by resignation, by death and by all the conditions put forward by the constitution, the deputy national chairman from that zone, that is from the north-south dichotomy would be the one to stand in office pending when a substantive chairman is brought forward.

“So, the north central is saying we want to bring forward a replacement which would be the substantive chairman. I think that is the major issue that the party will have to contend with on Thursday.”

He had said earlier in the interview that “it would be childish to reduce the upcoming NEC to the leadership of the party. Leadership is natural in the PDP and everybody knows who his or her leader is in the party. The issue of whether it is Wike who is going to be named the leader, or whether it’s Atiku who would be named a leader, they pan into irrelevance. What’s important is how do we hold the party together to function with the ideals of its founders.”

Speculations are rife that the NEC meeting could turn into a battle for supremacy between Atiku and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike. There are further insinuations that governors elected on the platform of the party are working together to take full control of the party and move for the appointment of a new chairman for the party, which has since remained vacant following the inglorious exit of Iyorchia Ayu.

According to a source, the governors are basing their actions on being the major financiers of the party. However, Wike’s camp has lately been thrown into confusion as one of the G-5 members and governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has reportedly pulled out of the group and working and galvanising resources to become a rallying point among all the PDP governors. It was learnt that the governors are positioning themselves to dictate the pace at which the meeting will go.

A source close to the secretariat of the PDP Governors’ Forum said, “The governors have their plan, which will be neither Atiku nor Wike. The PDP governors would be holding their meetings from Tuesday and Wednesday and thereafter come up with their position, which would be different from what everyone is expecting.

“We are an opposition party, the governors are our collegiate leaders, unlike when PDP was in power and the president is the leader of the party. So, no single person can control the party.

“There are governors who will be concluding their second term in office, they have other political interests and therefore it cannot be said that Atiku and Wike would be allowed to control the structures to their exclusion. Look at what is happening in Rivers State, do you think Governor Siminilaya Fubara will just look and allow Wike to control the party in the state?” the source said.

While the Wike-led camp is rooting for Illiya Damagum to retain his seat as the PDP national chairman, the other camp, led by Atiku is pushing for the emergence of Senator Gabriel Suswam. Both camps it was learnt, have intensified efforts to ensure their loyalists from the North Central geopolitical zone emerge as Ayu’s replacement.

Meanwhile, a group that identified itself as PDP Loyal Group 100 percent, has said lasting peace will elude the party if Atiku does not sacrifice his 2027 presidential ambition and Wike, is not sanctioned for anti-party activities.

National Coordinator/Chairman of the group, Dennis Shima, while addressing newsmen in Abuja, suggested that Atiku should act as a statesman, sacrifice his 2027 presidential ambition and support one of his mentees for the PDP ticket while the party should use the powers conferred on NEC to sanction Wike and others whose activities have proven detrimental to the party’s stability.  Shima said the group decided to suggest a reasonable cause of action for the party ahead of the NEC meeting after wide consultations and several meetings.

The political crisis in the PDP took a new dimension yesterday at the meeting of the party caucus in the House of Representatives when a move by some lawmakers alleged to be loyal to Damagun and Wike to give the acting national chairman a vote of confidence couldn’t sail through.

The PDP crisis deepened following the inability of the Reps caucus of the party to agree on the issue revolving around the endorsement of the continuous stay of Damagun in office.

The lawmakers who met at the House Committee Room 301, National Assembly Complex Abuja ahead of Thursday’s NEC of the party were sharply divided along the lines of those in support of Damgun and those against his retention in office.

The failed plot was a result of the resistance and mobilisation by the group of 60 PDP lawmakers who are campaigning for reform and rebuilding of the PDP and an end to many public cases of anti-party activities.

Recall that the group known as G60 led by Ikenga Ugochinyere, had been clamoring for reform of the party including the resignation of the acting chairman to enable North Central to assume the position zoned to them and commencement of disciplinary action against those fighting the party.

The majority of PDP federal lawmakers refused to allow the meeting to arise with such a decision. The meeting, which was called by loyalists of Wike led by minority leader, Kingsley Chinda and Ali Isa, minority whip on behalf of all PDP House of Representatives members, was tension-soaked with serious political arguments, which ended without the expectation of the pro-Wike Damagun group being met.

A member of the Ugochinyere-led opposition lawmakers coalition who revealed the outcome of the meeting on the condition of anonymity said the move to pass a vote of confidence on Damagun failed.

The lawmaker said: “We are glad that the plan of the pro-Wike group supporting Damagun fell like a pack of cards as we refused all entreaties to perpetuate illegality and stoking of crisis in the party. Our position remains that Damagun must go for someone from North-central to take over and complete Ayu’s tenure.

“Our party needs total overhaul and reformation. We currently have in the PDP a national leadership that is in bed with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and is working extremely hard to hand over the party to the APC. This is quite shameful and disheartening. But we won’t fold our hands and let that happen.

“The NEC of the party should ensure that the list of party Caretaker Committees in Rivers State and all other 10 states tampered with by Damagun and his APC friends are reversed and announced as originally agreed, that is by extension of the tenures of the outgoing leadership.

“Any tampering in any state will be resisted and not acceptable. They should also ensure that disciplinary action and punishment are meted out on FCT Minister Wike and his cohorts for anti-party activities.”

The Damagum-led National Working Committee (NWC) was pressured into fixing the NEC meeting for April 18, having refused to hold the meeting for over one year. The NEC, the second most influential decision-making organ of the party after the national convention, is expected to meet every quarter as stipulated by the party’s constitution.

While the Wike-led camp is rooting for Damagum to retain his seat, the other camp, led by Atiku is pushing for the emergence of Senator Gabriel Suswam. Atiku is regarded as the de facto leader of the party, being the presidential candidate in the last election.

Apart from Suswam, former minister Humphrey Abba (Kogi State) and Dr Emmanuel Agbo (Benue State) have indicated interest in emerging as party chairman. They all hail from North Central.

HOWEVER, former Senate President and chairman, PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Adolphus Wabara, has declared that “those expecting the party to explode will be disappointed”.  He predicted a brighter future for the former ruling national party, saying that the PDP is blessed with many mature minds capable of resolving any crisis.

Speaking with newsmen, Wabara said PDP would weather its current storms and bounce back as the national ruling party in 2027. He said: ”Whatever people think is happening in PDP today is not strange nor peculiar to the PDP. Political parties all over the world especially the big parties will always have challenges from time to time.’’

“But the interesting thing is that whatever issues we have today in our party will only make us stronger and more united. I’m confident that whatever grievances any member has, will be trashed at the NEC meeting on Thursday. Our party elders will use the elders’ lens to look at them and have them resolved.”