Following claims by former Rivers State governor and recently appointed Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, that he notified him (Damagum) in writing when he was nominated as a ministerial designate by President Bola Tinubu, there are indications that prominent PDP members are not pleased with the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, The PUNCH reports.
Over the previous few months, the party’s leadership, including certain members of the National Working Committee and National Executive Committee, have publicly demanded Wike be punished for what they dubbed anti-party activities against the PDP. Recall that, in addition to spearheading the Integrity Group’s four other governors in working against the PDP’s presidential nominee in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, Wike was one of the first frontline opposition politicians to congratulate Tinubu on his election success.
However, upon his appointment as Minister of the FCT last week, Wike revealed that the party was fully aware of his nomination, adding that, contrary to media reports, he wrote to the PDP leadership to notified them of his nomination and received clearance to accept the offer. “I wrote to the National Chairman before this appointment.” I contacted the minority leaders in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. I wrote to the party’s zonal chairman and my state chairman.
“I wrote to my governor, and they all wrote back and said ‘accept.'” “I have my evidence documented,” Wike told media at his first press conference last week. Since this declaration, party members have been conversing quietly about the need for Damagum to either speak up or keep quiet about the situation. Rather than acknowledge or refute the allegation, neither Damagum nor the PDP Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, have thought it appropriate to address the matter, causing discontent among party leaders.
A former governor of a North-West state told Saturday PUNCH confidentially that Damagum now needs to engage with other party leaders since “the centre will not hold for long after this.”“Most of us were worried when Wike was openly reaching out to the APC,” he told reporters. I’m sure you’re aware that some of us even asked him to leave the party. “The excuse given by the party’s leadership that we should wait until the presidential election petition was resolved was sufficient, and we kept our peace.” But Wike’s claim that Damagum was aware of his nomination befuddles us. Unless and until the chairman clears the air, the centre will not last long.”
A member of the NWC who did not want to be identified also stated that many party officials were astonished by Wike’s revelation last week. “We don’t say what the Minister said is false, but we expected Damagum to clear his name.” Why is he deafeningly quiet? Is he thinking that we should keep the topic quiet? This allegation by Wike cannot be ignored, but we will have to wait and watch what happens in the next days,” he said.
Meanwhile, the PDP’s Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, has questioned Wike’s assertion that he wrote to party leadership regarding his nomination and appointment. “Damagum never told anyone about a letter from Wike except for private correspondences,” he stated, “but as the acting National Chairman of the party, such a letter would have been presented at NWC meetings.”
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