Umar Damagum, Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has stated that the National Working Committee led by him will not suspend or fire any ‘disloyal’ member.
This follows the recent exhortation by certain PDP stakeholders to Damagum to penalize former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and others for alleged anti-party activities during the recently concluded general elections.
Damagum, speaking to the PDP Mobilisers Group in Abuja, refuted this, revealing that the NWC has approved the formation of a committee to evaluate and reconcile all unhappy members.
The chairman stated that the party was more concerned with reconciliation and attracting new members than with penalizing any suspected anti-party activity, which he claimed may ruin the party.
He said,
“They are always telling you these people are not doing the right thing. But when you are in a position of leadership, you are bound by a set of rules, and these rules, even though they are itching you, you don’t apply them—not because of anything, but so that you don’t destroy the house.
“I have been seeing the agitations within our platforms, saying the NWC was not doing this or doing that. This is an opportunity for me to explain.
“Somebody has said that sometimes when you are not knowledgeable about certain things and you go on saying about your thinking, it will always injure the sensibility of others to understand you.”
Damagum also described the 2023 presidential election defeat as “most painful”, cautioning members of the party against a blame game.
He said,
“I am very proud to say that this party was started by me as a driver. Today, I am the acting national chairman by the grace of God. I have never calculated that I will be given this title. I believe in this party, I believe that this party is the best in this country.
“The NWC has already come up and approved a 2023 election review and reconciliation committee. They will go and investigate. We’ll give them the mandate to form subcommittees. However, there is only one national committee that will review the 2023 election and also review from 2015 to 2019. This is so that at the end of the day when they bring the reports, we will meet and take decisions.”
Damagum, who admitted that many members were involved in anti-party activities at different levels, said, “If I said we should start suspension, I will end up suspending many people because they were involved in anti-party activities. So, please bear with us. We intend to keep this party together and to manage it. This is my mandate.”