The plot to remove Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Acting Chairman Ambassador Illyas Damagum has sparked a fresh crisis in the main opposition party.
Also, the disagreement over reconciliation moves in the party has polarised its chieftains.
Damagum, who set up the reunion committee and disciplinary panel, alleged plans by some forces in the party to remove him as head of the National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC).
Firing salvos at the internal opposition in the fold, Damagum vowed to resist intimidation and frustrate their agenda for change of leadership.
Also on Wednesday, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike chided Chief Edwin Clark, for calling for a probe in the party, saying that it is unwarranted.
Read Also: Wike must leave PDP for the party to survive, says Edwin Clark
Rivers: Fubara should face the crisis, Wike replies Edwin Clark
The minister, who vowed to remain in the PDP, said he will also continue to defend the acting chairman because he occupied the position in accordance with the party constitution.
Wike emphasised that Damagun can only be removed as acting chairman by the PDP National Convention, which is the highest decision making organ.
The acting chairman took a swipe at what he described as proxy interests, internal opposition, and agents of destruction, saying that he would not bow to pressure or intimidation.
Damagum, who reflected on the opposition to his interim leadership, shortly before setting up the two committees, warned detractors to desist from crippling the party ahead of 2027 polls.
He said for PDP to survive, the detractors should stop undermining the party leadership.
He said: “For those interested in seeing Damagum go, this is a buildup to undermine me before the coming NEC meeting. But if you bring Damagum down and lose the party, what have you achieved? Because in trying to bring me down, you are also bringing down your party.
“Every time people say the party is dying, they are sending a message to the opposition that we are weak. If you believe in the party, you should speak positively, unless you are an agent of destruction; you should be positive whenever you talk if you believe in this party,.
Damagum lamented that some party members have arbitrarily distorted the PDP’s image in the media while others deliberately fail to acknowledge the success recorded by the party leadership, particularly the recently concluded ward congress in various states.
He objected to the criticism of the party leadership by Chief Clark, saying that the elder statesman is sentimental.
The Acting Chairman said that the suggestion about reconciliation by the Board of Trustees (BoT), led by Senator Adolphus Wabara, and not the push for probe suggested by Clark, should be upheld.
Damagun said: “I want to use this opportunity also to address a letter from our elder statesman that has been brought to my attention. There is no doubt that he is an elder statesman, but I think that when you reach that age, God has given you the opportunity and wisdom to be a father to all, not to go to the market.
Clark is 97 years old.
Wabara, who endorsed the peace moves, warned that if PDP fails to unite, Nigeria will become a one-party state.
He added: “This party should not be allowed to die in the hands of these two committees. So, I sincerely urge the two committees to function without fear or favour, no matter whose ox is gored, and as much as our Constitution—the Constitution of this great party—guides whatever decisions or actions you will take; failure of which, in my considered opinion, will lead to Nigeria becoming a one-party state with no democracy.”
Party discipline has broken down
Chief Tom Ikimi said indiscipline is rampant in PDP, urging the party to enforce its rules against the misdemeanor.
He said: “Discipline is a requirement for efficiency in any organization, including political parties. But for some time now, there has been a proliferation of gross indiscipline, which has caused the party electoral misfortune. The fundamental problem of the PDP in the 2023 election was gross indiscipline.”
Reconciliation, a joint responsibility
Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola described reconciliation as a shared responsibility, urging party members to embrace peace.
He said “PDP is a beacon of hope for national progress,” advising the chieftains to Bury their differences. Our challenges may be many, but they are not insurmountable. We can’t help our people unless we win elections, and we can’t win elections without having a strong party. Nigerians need the PDP to rescue the country.”
Damagun can’t be removed
Wike emphasised that the power to remove Damagum as acting chairman can only be exercised by the National Convention.
The minister, who spoke on the brewing party crisis, on a live television programme, faulted the plot against Damagum, saying that it is illegal.
He said it would be unlawful to appoint an unelected acting chairman and ask him to preside over the affairs of the National Working Committee (NWC) members who were all elected into such positions.
Wike also reflected on the Rivers State crisis, blaming Governor Siminalayi Fubara for the rift.
He said: “In good conscience, I fought for Fubara to become governor without any regrets and you now say you don’t want to be part of the family; no problem. Aregbesola was brought by Tinubu, but he’s no longer with the president again.
“In all honesty, I can tell you that there is no going back and my people know. What support? Have I come out of the one I did? Some people don’t play politics of integrity, but I do. He’s the one that says ‘dey your dey.’ So, let me ‘dey my dey.’ This doesn’t worry me because I’m focused on the mandate Mr President gave me in FCT.”
The FCT minister also denied speculation that he was planning to leave the PDP, saying that he does not run from a fight.
Wike said: “I don’t run away from any fight. I will stay there; I will fight it out. Who am I going to run from? The vampires? I cannot do that.
“I will not leave PDP, even when the fight at home (Rivers State) and at the national level gets tougher. I will fight to the last. I am not prepared to join the APC. I have said it and I want to repeat it. The work I am doing here was handed over to me by the president. And I am focused on achieving the task before me.
“I will not fold my arms and allow the party I have suffered for over the years to continuously do injustice to members. I will not accept that”.
Wike said he could not understand why Clark was criticising him, despite sharing his thoughts on power shift to Ijaw in Rivers State.
He said: “I don’t know the party Chief Clark belongs to, but in 2014 when I came out to run, he said no because it’s the turn of the Ijaws. He said nothing will make me win, but to the glory of God I won.
“I wasn’t a bad person when I championed for an Ijaw man to be governor, but I have become a bad person because there are issues. There is nothing Clark has not said, but I vowed never to respond”
“He (Clark) spoke about the Southern President, which I supported; he spoke about power rotation to the South; which I believed in. So, what crime have I committed?”
He added: “In leadership, everything must not be smooth; I had my own crisis when I was there. Did I blame anybody? I faced the crisis squarely. When I was there, you all saw what the Federal Government did to me. Did I accuse any ethnic group? No.
“If you are in a leadership position, you should be able to stand and face the crisis. That’s what politics is all about. Sometimes it will be good and other times it won’t be rosy.”
Arewa group tackles Clark over Rivers crisis
A group, Arewa Youths for Peaceful Coexistence, faulted Clarks’s position on the Rivers crisis, particularly the status of tgex37 members of the House of Assembly.
The group, in a statement by its National Chairman, Haruna Bature and Chairman of Abuja chapter, Ogah Okpanachi, said Clark as an elder, ought to play advisory and mediatory role instead of taking side with Fubara.
It urged Clark to retract his letter and assume the proper fatherly and mediatory role expected of him as an elder statesman.
The statement reads: “We are greatly shocked and disappointed by the toxic hatred and bitterness expressed in the letter against Alh. Illya Damagun and Sen. Samuel Anyanwu and the FCT Minister, Chief Barr. E.N. Wike in favour of the 27 PDP Lawmakers of Rivers State.
“We wonder why the elder statesman, Chief Edwin K. Clark, who is supposed to be a mediator between the two factions suddenly lost touch with his status, role and threw caution to the wind by taking sides with Governor Sim. Fubara to sacrifice the 27 PDP Lawmakers, forgetting that all the parties in this crisis are bonafide and prominent indigenes of Rivers State whose interests must never be sacrificed for another. “
“The legal technicalities of the alleged defection of the 27 PDP lawmakers of Rivers State have been severally challenged and judgments passed in favour of the 27 PDP Rivers State lawmakers at the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, and therefore, we expected the elder statesman to have chosen the path of peaceful mediation and reconciliation to give proper closure to the issues in contention.
“We categorically wish to state that the actions of Alh. Illya Damagun and Sen. Samuel Anyanwu of properly informing the Court of the position of the party is to give all the parties in Rivers State crisis fair grounds to litigate their matters in court without fear or favour and should never be condemned for such actions.
“We wish to remind Chief Edwin K. Clark that all the parties in the Rivers State crisis, especially Wike, have fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which cannot and must never be compromised or sacrificed for any petty personal or regional sentiments.
“We call on Chief Edwin K. Clark to immediately retract the letter, apologize to the parties mentioned in the letter and assume the proper fatherly and mediatory role expected of him as an elder statesman.”
