Crisis in PDP as faction wants North Central to produce chairman

The factional acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Yayari Ahmed Mohammed, has charged the North Central caucus of the party to immediately nominate a candidate for adoption by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) as substantive chairman at its next meeting scheduled to hold on the 10th of October, 2024.

“In line with the provision of our Party’s Constitution, the North Central Zone, which is constitutionally entitled to produce a replacement to serve out the tenure of the former National Chairman, Sen. Iyorchia Ayu, is hereby requested to urgently meet and forward its nominee to my office for necessary preparation and forwarding for consideration and approval by NEC at the October 24, 2024 meeting,” Mohammed stated.

In an acceptance message released by Debo Ologunagba, the erstwhile national publicity secretary who was suspended last week by the Umar Damagum-led faction, Mohammed noted that he is committed to returning the PDP to constitutionality.

The 4-day-old acting National Chairman said the October 2024 NEC meeting remained sacrosanct.

He said, “The NWC under my leadership will be guided strictly by the Constitution of our Party, and I will at all times be fair to all members irrespective of their status, position or state in the Party. Only this will guarantee and engender loyalty and commitment of our teeming members.

“In this regard, my primary goal, focus and mandate in the onerous assignment is to restore confidence of our members by immediately setting in motion the process to hold the long overdue National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of our Party already scheduled for Thursday, October 24, 2024.”

Seeking the cooperation of parry members, Mohammed said, “I hereby seek and solicit the co-operation, support and advice from my colleagues NWC members, all Organs of the Party especially the PDP Governors’ Forum, the Board of Trustees (BoT), the National Assembly Caucus as well as leaders, critical stakeholders and members towards a successful NEC meeting that we can all be proud of.”

He expressed regret that the PDP has not been able to perform optimally its role as an opposition Party, a development he blamed on internal conflicts within the party.

According to him, “This state of affairs continues to affect the performance and viability of our Party to perform its role as expected as a platform which Nigerians have come to admire and looked up to in view of the robust Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017) and the monumental achievements of the Party in the sixteen years in government, which period is referred to with nostalgia as the golden years of governance in Nigeria.”