* I can’t be intimidated, says Damagum, Ag. National Chairman…
* Reconciliation, Disciplinary Committees crucial to party’s survival – Wabara
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dared the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to do their worst and expel him if they can, vowing not to leave the party, despite the internal crisis.
Wike’s position came yesterday (Wednesday, August 21), in an apparent response to the elder statesman, Edwin Clark’s challenge to the leadership of the PDP to expel Wike in order to restore peace in the party.
He spoke at a media parley to mark his first anniversary in office.
Wike said: “I don’t run away from any fight. I will stay and fight it out. Who am I going to run from? The vampires? I cannot do that!” he declared.
He said though he may stand alone, he will never run away from the fight, until the constitution of the PDP is followed to the letter.
When asked if he might leave the PDP, Wike said: “Anyone who knows me knows if I wanted to join the APC, I would do it openly. I’ve never hidden my stance, and I won’t start now. Integrity is very important.”
He ruled out any plans to reconcile with his predecessor in Rivers State, Sim Fubara, vowing to recover the State in 2027.
The former Rivers State Governor said the PDP won in Rivers State in 2015, 2019 and 2023 because he stood his ground.
“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.
“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.
“He 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?” Wike remonstrated.
In an open letter, Clark accused Wike of using his influence with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intimidate Rivers State Governor, Fubara, and the PDP.
In the letter he addressed to the PDP Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Illiya Damagum, dated 20th August, 2024, Clark said the National Working Committee (NWC) must take decisive action against Wike to save the party.
He also said something has to be done to tame characters who see themselves as above the law, before they will grow too monstrous to be tamed.
Clark said: “The purpose of this Open Letter, therefore, Mr. Acting National Chairman of PDP, is to call on you to immediately set up a probe panel/committee to probe members like Barr. Nyesom Wike, and if found guilty, to face the appropriate sanctions as prescribed by the party’ s constitution.
“It is not the setting up of a Reconciliation Committee under the chairmanship of Maj. Gen. Oyinlola, with whom when I discussed, asked him whom he is reconciling, because the G-5 members have disintegrated.
“While the Governor of Oyo State, who was a member of the G-5, has retraced his steps back to his party fully, and today leader of the party in the South-west, the other three are floating about.
“To urge you to also purge yourself of all malfeasance. As Acting National Chairman of your party, you took your party’ s NWC to court on the defection of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.”
I can’t be intimidated, says Damagum, Ag. National Chairman…
Meanwhile, the Acting National Chairman of PDP, Umar Damagum, has said he is not one to be easily intimidated by anyoen or group into abdicating his responsibilities, chiding those he accused of moves to oust him that they have made him even more popular.
Damagum, who spoke at the inauguration of the PDP National Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committee, yesterday (Wednesday, August 21) in Abuja, said moves to oust him as acting national chairman have even made him more popularly, apparently referring to the ruckus generated by a recent letter he allegedly wrote in conjunction with the national secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, to the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, disowning the National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, describing the uproar as unnecessary.
Damagum spoke just as the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees ( BoT) , Adolphus Wabara, insisted that the survival of the PDP depends on the success of the Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committees headed by former Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and former Minister of External Affairs, Tom Ikimi, respectively.
Damagum contended that those clamouring for his sanction against alleged anti-party activities in Rivers State are out to discredit him ahead of the PDP National Executive Committee ( NEC) scheduled for next month.
The NEC meeting, amongst other issues, is expected to choose a substantiative national chairman.
The party organ, at its last meeting, on April 18, had resolved to allow Damagum continue to lead the party until its next meeting.
However, ahead of the NEC, Damagum has come under fire for allegedly seeking to undermine the interest of the PDP in the case involving the 25 members of the Rivers State of Assembly, who defected to the All Progressivee Congress ( APC) last year.
The acting chairman and Anyanwu had allegedly written to the Appeal Court, in Port Harcourt, asking it to disregard an application by Ajibade to withdraw a suit filed by some persons on behalf of the PDP in the Rivers Assembly tussle.
Referring to the matter, Damagum said: “The last I checked, the signatories of this party are the chairman and the secretary. Just because the chairman and secretary signed a letter, it has become an issue. People are making all sorts of insinuations about it.
“Nobody is going to intimidate me into abdicating my responsibility. You can say all sorts of things. I know that this is a buildup to the coming NEC. ‘Damagum must go. Damagum must go.’ I thank God. People are making me very popular lately. Anytime you open social media, television, it is ‘Damagum, Damagum’.
“Honestly speaking, I have started contemplating it is high time throwing myself in the ring and vie for the presidency of this country. I have become popular; even though the negative publicity is meant to bring me down, I am not deterred.
“I have a responsibility to this party to keep it safe and stable. I intend to take all necessary actions to ensure the party remains stable. But I have reached a point where I have to speak out.
“I have avoided talking because I know so many things. When I open my mouth, I know it will not be pleasant. But that is the price of leadership. I am ready to take that bashing, more bashing.
“And to my detractors, let me tell you, you’ll see more of that later. Because I will not abdicate my responsibility. But I will do it within the confines of the law, as stipulated by the constitution.
“For those interested in seeing Damagum go, this is a build up to run me down before we have that NEC. But when you run Damagum down and you lose the party. Because in trying to run me down, you are running down your party.”
Wabara, who also spoke at the event, said the inauguration of the Reconciliation and Disciplinary committees was pivotal to the future of the PDP.
According to him, “what we are doing today is the beginning of the future of this party and this nation.I sincerely urge the two committees to function without fear or favor, 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.”
He noted that of the committees fail, it will lead the country becoming a one party state, which will not be in the interest of the country’s democracy.
