By Abiola Olawale
After several weeks of intense politicking, the embattled acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Illiya Damagum, has survived moves to remove him from office.
This is as the much-anticipated 98th PDP National Executive Committee (NEC), which was held on Thursday gave a nod to the continued stay of Damagum in office, also handing the acting National Chairman a four-month lifeline to oversee the conduct of the party congresses in states where there are executive vacancies.
The NEC said after the conclusion of the congresses the stakeholders of the party would meet again to decide on the leadership of the party.
The closed session of the NEC, which had 353 members, lasted less than two hours. The gathering had former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike in attendance. Also in attendance were members of the G-5 group, including former governors of Benue, Abia, and Enugu. Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde was also present.
Other party leaders, including Damagum, BoT chairman, Adolphus Wabara, representatives of PDP governors, and lawmakers were also present at the event.
The New Diplomat reports that this comes in contrast with the demands of about 60 lawmakers of the House of Representatives who have threatened to dump the PDP if Damagum should remain in his office despite his alleged alliance with the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, while briefing journalists shortly after the 98th NEC meeting of the party on Thursday in Abuja said: “In the next two months we will see a lot of activities, leadership is a responsibility. We said in September that we would have come out from our congresses.
“We will look at the issue of leadership and look at the issue of our constitution where it will be and we will do it without rancor,” he said.
Mohammed added that the successful conduct of the party’s NEC meeting was an indication that there was no dissension and rancor within the leadership.
He continued: “It was planned that the party will have an explosion. PDP is more than that, we have gone beyond all these idiosyncrasies. This party is a united party that is guided by experience and constitutionality.
“There were a lot of permutations and mischievous thinking outside there. But we looked at all the issues and we worked along our guidelines and constitution. There is no problem or dissension among members,” he said.
Also speaking, Damagum said that the leadership of the party was not a do-or-die affair.
In his words: “This is not a matter of life and death. I am still an elected member of this NEC. Even if I revert to deputy national chairman I’m still a member of NWC. The issue of surviving or not does not emerge.”
Also, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said that the issue of the party leadership would be considered in August.
“Our party emphasizes the need for reconciliation and stability within the party at this time. Therefore, the issue of the National Chairman, Damagum, has been deferred to the next NEC meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for August 15th,” he said.
The latest development came after the National Caucus of the party, during a meeting that was held in the late hours of Wednesday and attended by Atiku and Wike, threw its weight behind Damagum.
