In spite of the moves by leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to save the party from implosion, following the suspension war engaged in by members of the party’s National Working Committee, there appears to be no respite yet for the leading opposition party.
Feelers from across the state indicate that some influential members of the party are still hell-bent on removing Ambassador Umar Illiya Damagum as acting National Chairman.
A founding member of the party, who spoke with the Sunday Tribune on condition of anonymity, said stakeholders in the North-Central can no longer tolerate a situation whereby some cabals within the party have decided to shut out the geopolitical zone for their selfish reasons without recourse to the constitution of the party in relation to zoning.
According to him, the general consensus among PDP members of both the green and red chambers is that the national chairman seat must be retrieved from Damagum and returned to North-Central.
“At the moment, we have only one governor from the North-Central, which is Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State. Other stalwarts of the party are being initiated on the development and the reason why the national chairmanship of the party should be returned to the North-Central. All political actors in the zone are on the same page on this issue,” he said.
Earlier, another founding member of the party in the zone, who is also a one-time Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Istifanus Mwansat, had tasked the elders and all leaders of the party in the zone to rise up to the occasion.
He expressed optimism that there would be a solution to the impasse when next the party convenes for its NEC meeting, adding that Damagum must go to pave the way for anyone from the North-Central to emerge.
“Definitely, there will be a solution because we have gone through this for a very long time. I am very optimistic that we shall come out of this very stronger. Damagum has no business holding on to the seat of the national championship of the party. If Ambassador Damagun actually loved the party and had its interests at heart, he was supposed to have resigned a long time ago.
“The position of the party is very clear on this; it was zoned to the North and further micro-zoned to the North-Central. It is extremely wrong for the zone where Damagum comes from to continue to hold on to both the position of the national chairman and the deputy at the same time. So, Damagum should go since the position belongs to the North-Central.
“I am surprised that our leaders in the North-Central are not keen and willing to take what actually belongs to us. The time to rise up is now; our leaders must rise up. They should reclaim what rightly belongs to us.
“He has been suspended, so he cannot preside over the next NEC meeting he consistently refused to allow NEC to hold. The fact that he visited Governor Bala Mohammed does not amount to him getting support from the governors,” he said.
Also supporting the sacking of Damagum, a cross section of members of the PDP applauded the resolution of the NWC which led to the suspension of Damagun and his allies from the party.
