The acting Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Amb. Umar Damagun, has said that no politician, no matter his or her wealth or influence, will remain in government forever.
Damagun who spoke yesterday in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service said that despite the effort of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to woo more PDP members into the party, Nigerians would have the last say through their votes in 2027, saying that Nigerians are the ones that would decide who governs them.
He also highlighted some of the challenges of the PDP and how it could be resolved ahead of the elections in 2027. Excerpt:
Are you concerned with the growing number of your members leaving the PDP to the APC?
Of course, I am. In fact, myself and the party leadership, are concerned with this development, and our worries are expected. Even in our individual families and businesses, if you lose one person, you will be seriously concerned not to talk of more than one person leaving our party, including a governor, senators, and others. But amidst this development, I have no power to insist that someone remains with our party, perhaps, against his or her wish. I believe that people who have left PDP, perhaps, had deep and several thoughts about it and decided that defection was the best option for them, and we accept our fate as a party. But one thing that gives me joy is that none among them has said that PDP offended him or her. All these years, PDP provided cover and protection for these people, but they chose to abandon the party at this time. The experience could be likened to someone that provided you with clothes, shelter and protection for several years, but you wake up one morning, and decided that you want to see the person naked, then God will be the one to judge and punish you.
Some people said that your poor leadership skills were responsible for the mass exit of your party members?
That’s not true. It’s little above two years since I took over the running of this party in line with the recommendations of the party, and there’s no faction or major division among its ranks except for different interests of its members, which are normal in such a political environment. Some of these people whose interests are not met would be the ones to accuse the party of bad leadership. But PDP has remained a strong united party. There’s no doubt we have our internal challenges, which are not peculiar to us. But for me, as leader of the party at this time, I have been fair to all members of the party to the best of my ability and knowledge. I have been running the party based on its constitution and other guidelines. I have also refused to play into the hands of people who are pushing their interests in ways that are outside the operational guidelines of the party. But one thing I have observed is that leading a party after it has lost election is always difficult. There’s always several expectations, complaints and agitations from members. Remember that I wasn’t the chairman of the party prior to 2023 elections. But I have taken over the leadership of the party by divine providence, and I am running the affairs of the party with fear of God and service of the people. So, I am taking the ‘bullets’, and anger of the people. But nevertheless, I am determined to ensure we unite this party and make it stronger for opportunities ahead.
Talking about personal interest, you were expected to resign and hand over to someone from North-central to complete the tenure of the former chairman, Iyorchia Ayu?
That’s unconstitutional, and it’s for all to see. Court has also intervened on the matter. PDP constitution recognises North and South. And it has two deputy chairmen (North and South). The deputy from the zone that produced the chairman becomes ‘senior’, and the other one becomes ‘junior’. During the last convention, the chairmanship position was zoned to the North. The North was asked to produce and present a candidate for that position. In doing that, all party members from the North gathered and decided to micro-zone the position to the North-central. Senator Iyorchia Ayu emerged. But when he resigned before the end of his tenure, and being from the North, the PDP constitution automatically recognised the deputy chairman, North, as the acting chairman of the party pending the convention that would produce new national officers. People were asking that I resign and hand over to someone from North-central, but that is a display of ignorance on their part. I am not the deputy chairman for the PDP for the Northeast, but for the entire North. PDP constitution doesn’t recognise chairman by appointment, but chairman of the party can only emerge through convention, and until the time comes, I remain the acting chairman of the party, and I will continue to run the affairs of the party in accordance with the constitution and in the fear of God.
So, when is the convention holding?
We are looking at conducting the convention before the tenure of the current national officers end. Tentatively, we have fixed the convention for August, but the date is not cast on stone. But we are hopeful that nothing stronger than us would force us to shift the date.
There are allegations that you are APC loyalist, and that’s why you refused an end to the internal crisis of the party?
That’s untrue, but I pray that God will judge the person that made such allegation against me. If I had wanted to join APC, I would have done that since the time of former President Buhari. I have a history in PDP. Since I joined the party in 1999, I have not changed. I have been loyal to the party. However, you don’t expect everybody to like you. And those who don’t like me would find a way to tarnish my image and reputation. But I am not bothered nor moved by their efforts. They even accused me of having a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in London among several other accusations. But I am not moved because my hands are pure. Hence, my conscience is clear.
It was also alleged that your closeness to FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who is working for Tinubu, is also a challenge to the party?
First of all, I want to tell you that those who accused me of having some deals with Wike have had some deals with him in the past long before I knew him. My only offence with these set of people is that I refused to allow them to do what they wanted to do with Wike. Many of them wanted me to approve his expulsion from the party on allegation of anti-party activities during the 2023 elections, which I disapproved. Wike never hid his position in the 2023 elections. I wasn’t the leader of the party at that time, and at that time we suggested that the G-5 governors be expelled, but that wasn’t done until elections came and PDP lost. Even after the election was lost, we still asked that they be expelled, but the suggestions were not taken. Now, the situation has become what it is. My desire is for the party to be strong and united. Expelling people now from the party would not solve the problem, rather it will worsen the problem. And if we continue that way, one day, we might discover that the party has lost all its members.
How did you handle your party’s crisis in South-south?
Unfortunately, no one is commending me for what I did in South-south PDP. I stopped Wike from his deals that would have been disastrous to the party in the region. But in Rivers, it has been a difficult one. Wike brought Fubara to PDP as his successor. We have limited information on what arrangements they had or the agreements they might have reached before and after the election. For me, it’s within them to settle. The only thing I told God is that no one will use me to cheat this party.
It seems you didn’t do much as you said, because if you did, PDP wouldn’t have lost Rivers to state of emergency?
We have highly respected leaders and bigwigs in this party who are not doing enough to keep this party together. Many of them benefitted greatly from this party, but they have turned their back on the party. They neither take advice nor suggestions. The actions and utterances of these leaders are not good at all. Some of them are obviously working underground to pull down this party through their actions and inactions. They hobnob with the governors who are from the other parties against the interest of the PDP. These leaders also protect and cover individuals who have been involved in anti-party activities. For instance, we set up a committee on reconciliation, and handed over to them about 40 petitions submitted by aggrieved members of the party, and expected them to do justice to all aggrieved me, but otherwise seems to be the case. Guess what? The committee members didn’t see any other thing in the 40 petitions submitted, but the case of Secretary of the party. That was the only thing they chose to attend to out of the 40 petitions we handed over to them. Obviously, there’s no justice to the other petitions like the ones against FCT Minister and several others. They were not attended to except the case of the Secretary of the party.
What’s the fate of PDP in the 2027 elections?
For the coming elections, it’s between President Tinubu and Nigerians. Left for me, I will say boldly and confidently that there’s no government in Nigeria. There’s nothing to show that there’s government in Nigeria. Common men on the street cannot attest to the fact that there’s government in Nigeria because they can neither feel nor see it.
Don’t you think the opposition has failed to do their responsibilities?
It might be true, but I will use this opportunity to call on my party members to reduce the in-house fighting and internal politicking in the party so we can reorganise ourselves, strengthen the party, and prepare diligently to face the challenges ahead.
By Fred Ezeh, @TheSUN
