October 13, (THEWILL) – Friday, October 11, 2024, will remain a memorable day in the annals of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. On this day, members of the political party’s National Working Committee, NWC, in an open confrontation, issued counter-suspension orders until the court and party leaders stepped in to restore order.
The confrontation was ignited by the Acting National Chairman of the party, Ambassador Illiya Damagum and its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, from late Thursday night through Friday.
First to fire a salvo on Thursday night was the National Director of Publicity (Admin.) Chinwe I. Nnorom of the Damagum-led NWC, who announced the suspension of Ologunagba and the National Legal Adviser (NLA) of the party, Kamaldeen Adeyemi Ajibade, SAN, from office.
The NWC said it had constituted a committee to investigate what it described as “issues raised against the officers in compliance with the provisions of the constitution of the party.”
It said in a statement, “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) arising from its 593rd Meeting today, Thursday, October 10, 2024, has directed the National Publicity Secretary (NPS), Hon Debo Ologunagba and National Legal Adviser (NLA), Kamaldeen Adeyemi Ajibade, SAN, to step aside respectively,” Nnorom said.
The statement had hardly made news headlines when in a counter statement on Friday, Ologunagba announced the suspension of Damagum and the party’s National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, over alleged anti-party activities.
He said, “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP has extensively considered the series of complaints raised against the Acting National Chairman, Amb. Illiya Damagum and National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, particularly with regard to the letter addressed by them to the Court of Appeal in Appeal No: CA/PH/307/2024 against the party’s position in the case involving the 27 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who vacated their seats upon defecting from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The NWC condemned this anti-party activity of the Acting National Chairman and the National Secretary which is in gross violation of the provisions of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017) and their Oath of Office.
“Consequently, the NWC, pursuant to Sections 57, 58 and 59 of the PDP Constitution, has suspended Amb. Illiya Damagum and Sen. Samuel Anyanwu as Acting National Chairman and National Secretary of the party, respectively and refers them to the National Disciplinary Committee for further action.”
Ologunagba, who described his group as an integrity group, took a further step by announcing the appointment of Alhaji Yayari Ahmed Mohammed, the party’s Treasurer, as Acting National Chairman.
Ologunagba said Mohammed’s appointment, which took immediate effect, was pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017).
Like the Damagun group said, Ologunagba urged all organs, leaders, critical stakeholders and members of the PDP to remain focused.
For a seemingly endless time, there was a vacuum of leadership in the party until the court and the PDP leadership stepped in and restored some order.
COURT TO THE RESCUE
Claiming that some party leaders had hatched a plan to oust Damagun in breach of the party’s constitution, Senator Umar Maina from Yobe State had sued the party and eight others at the Federal High Court in Abuja. In his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2-24, Senator Maina, also alleged that the National Secretary of the party, Senator Samuel Anyanwa and the Senator Adolphus Nwabara-led Board of Trustee members failed to act when they were informed about the plan.
Delivering judgement on the suit on Friday, Justice Peter Lifu ruled that Damagum remained the party’s National Chairman.
Arguing that members of the party were bound by its constitution, which zoned the Chairmanship between the North and South, Justice Lifu ruled that Damagum should be allowed to serve out the remaining part of the four-year term for the position, which was vacated by former Chairman, Senator Iyorcha Ayu under a cloud. But the learned judge, who urged the party’s NEC and BoT to be guided by its constitution, particularly “Articles 42, 47, and 46 of the party, which states that officers can only be elected at the National Convention of the party,” left a loophole that can be exploited by Damagum’s rival to sustain their rivalry. He agreed with the plaintiff that the acting national chairman can only be replaced at the party’s national convention or through a court.
EVOLVING PICTURE OF THE CRISIS
Investigations by THEWILL show that there are three strands of the lingering crisis in the PDP. These strands, which can be divided into immediate and remote causes, are however intertwined.
The immediate cause of the crisis in the party is fear of the uncertainty surrounding the tenures of the current members of the NWC who had been polarised into two groups for and against what is now popularly known as former Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike’s overbearing influence in the party since the 2023 General Election when he led five other state governors to work against the party for zoning the presidential position to the North.
The post-election crisis, which is the remote cause, deals with the unceremonious exit of Senator Iyorchia Ayu as National Chairman and his replacement by his deputy, Umar Damagum, in acting capacity.
Rather than be a useful stop-gap measure to stabilise the party, the replacement only helped the party to paper over its post–election crisis, more so when Damagum increasingly became perceived as a Wike sympathizer, following the Rivers State supremacy battles between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Wike, which led to the defection of 27 lawmakers from the party to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Matters reached a head when Damagum and Anyanwu avoided the party National Legal Adviser, Mr Ajibade, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and signed a controversial letter to the Appeal Court on the case involving the 27 pro- Wike lawmakers.
Coming some weeks after the Rivers State High Court had issued an ex parte order restraining state officials from interacting with the defected lawmakers, the letter which authorised a counsel, D.J.Y Musa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, to file an appeal against the ex parte order, despite opposition from the party’s legal adviser, was seen as a deliberate ploy by Damagum and Anyawu to play the Wike card in the lingering Rivers power tussle.
Damagum has, however, denied any wrongdoing, insisting that he consulted his team before taking the decision, beside the fact that the party empowers him and the secretary as signatories of the party, to do what he did. These perceived political shenanigans are said to have generated fear among party members who believe that the party was being weakened to leave the governing APC ride on a one-party state.
Now, the Disciplinary and Reconciliation Committees of the party headed by Chief Tom Ikimi and Prince Olagunsoye Onyinlola, have been going about meeting party stakeholders since it was inaugurated on September 17, 2024, and they are on the verge of concluding their assignment before the party’s NEC meeting on October 24.
These committees’ findings and recommendation, according to sources, may be unfavourable to some members of the NWC, hence the weekend suspension and counter-suspension orders to pre-empt or win sympathy among the leaders of the party, a dependable party source, who asked not to be named, told THEWILL on Friday. He said the fight at the weekend was a dress rehearsal of what to expect at the coming NEC meeting on October 24, “when those who seek to take the party back to the vision of the founding fathers will slug it out with those who have been feeding from one man who is determined to remake the party in his own image.”
A taste of what to expect at the NEC meeting surfaced a fortnight ago when it emerged that only four of the 13 state governors on the platform of the party, namely, Seyi Makinde of Oyo; and Kefa Agba of Taraba; Adamawa’s Umaru Fintiri and Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State are in support of the pro-Wike faction of the party, if it comes to moves within the party to remove the embattled National Chairman.
REACTIONS
Immediately the counter-suspension began on Friday, a former Ekiti State governor and a staunch supporter of Wike took to his X platform to express his thinking. “It is becoming such an exciting drama. Let’s siddon and dey look and see how it ends,” he said in his message.
Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, spokesperson of opposition lawmakers’ coalition at the National Assembly was more frontal and brutal in his reaction.
Arguing that PDP faithful, supporters and stakeholders were happy with the suspension of Damgum and appointment of Alhaji Mohammed, the party’s Treasurer, as replacement, he said; “The news of Damagum’s suspension is a welcome development, there’s jubilation everywhere, PDP faithful, supporters and stakeholders are very happy with this development. Damagum has been working with our enemies to destroy the party and render it incapable of contesting the 2027 elections.
“With the removal of Damagum, transformation of PDP will begin, as the party has faced many setbacks and challenges due to Damagum anti-party activities and frolicking with the party’s enemy Nyesom Wike. I urge PDP Governors and stakeholders to meet to stop Damagum who is an APC agent alongside their Pro-Wike APC group from further destruction of the Party.”
In its reaction, The BoT on Friday, asked the warring parties to maintain the status quo. According to its Chairman, Senator Wabara, all parties in dispute should “sheath their swords and revert to the status quo to preserve the unity and stability of our great party,” adding that unity, peace and faith with the principles of the party should be paramount in the minds of all members at this time.
DAMAGUM MOVES TO RESTORE AUTHORITY
The embattled Acting National Chairman of the PDP wasted no time to restore his authority by paying a visit to the party’s Governors Forum Chairman, Bala Mohammed in Bauchi on Friday. He was accompanied on the visit by North-East PDP Chairmen to the Bauchi Government House visit to Governor Mohammed.
Damagum, who played the geo-political zonal card by asserting that his delegation, comprising North-East chairmen was an indication of the confidence they reposed on him and on the governor as leader of the party governors’ forum, stated, “The Northeast is one, we are together and unified.” He urged the governor to investigate the crisis disrupting the party. He seized the chance to sound tough by calling on Nigerians to be wary of voting for people who lack credibility in 2027, saying that suffering had descended on the country due to the policies of the Federal Government.
Mohammed, who assured the visiting Acting National Chairman and his team of his support to resolve the lingering crisis, promised to work alongside his counterparts in other states to checkmate the drift in the party.
He said, “This is why I always said we may have problems, we may have political hiccups, but certainly, we have a way of coming back.”
The party has scheduled the NEC meeting on October 24, 2024.
Amos Esele is the Acting Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
