Don’t destroy PDP, Dele Momodu warns as party’s crisis worsens

● Netizens ask why ‘all of you are so scared of Wike’
● Ex-PDP legal adviser Jacob urges FCT minister to exit party
● Ologbondiyan: No peace until Damagum reverts to deputy chairmanship role

Without dropping any name, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Dele Momodu, yesterday faulted a supposed “prominent member” of the opposition party, saying: “It is the height of indiscipline to bring the roof down and create the impression that you’re the sole owner of one of Africa’s biggest political parties.”

In a post on X, Momodu said his reaction came after he “watched with every sense of wonderment and amazement” the member “belched fire and brimstone, live on television, daring anyone to expel him from the political party that made him everything he is today, virtually from ground zero.”

While Momodu refrained from mentioning a name, his statement came on the heels of the ongoing crisis battering the leadership of the PDP with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike, lashing out at his critics and the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, insisting he will not be intimidated out of office.

“What was worse, he lambasted some unnamed members of PDP and even called them vampires!! Lord, have mercy,” Momodu said.

On Wednesday, during a live media parley with some select television stations in Abuja, Wike had declared: “I don’t run away from any fight. I will stay there. I will fight it out. Who am I going to run from? The vampires? I cannot do that!”

Following Momodu’s post, some netizens, who thought his muted reprimand was directed at Wike, dared him to call the latter’s name.

X users like Tobi Akinbo J.@realTobiAkinbo wrote: “Are you scared of mentioning Wike in your letter? All of you are so scared of Wike.”

Asiwajuson (Chelsea for life)@Asiwajuson23 said: “Call his name na.”

For his part, Urchman Dafodio@Uchennaugochuk5 posted: “So, you are afraid to mention Wike’s name here.”

Momodu’s statement reads in part: “…What was worse, he lambasted some unnamed members of PDP and even called them VAMPIRES!! Lord, have mercy. At about the same time, some of our members were elsewhere swearing in members of the Disciplinary and Reconciliation Committees.

“While I could understand the need for a Disciplinary Committee, I saw no need for the so-called Reconciliation Committee. Politics, like religion or marriage, is a voluntary act; it is your right to quit any political party if and when you’re tired and frustrated. And you may choose to rejoin at any time. You won’t be the first or the last. But it is the height of indiscipline to bring the roof down and create the impression that you’re the sole owner of one of Africa’s biggest political parties. What chicanery!!

“We almost lost one of our governors last week because of the voluptuous ego of one man who loves to play God. Helping a man to power is no reason to treat anyone like a slave or hold him permanently to ransom. Some people helped you, too, and today, you’re no longer friends with them. If every leader before you behaved in this unruly manner, there would have been no state for you to inherit and misappropriate.”

The chieftain added: “PDP needs to wake up from its deep slumber. PDP is extremely lucky that APC has not been an attractive option since it grabbed power. Otherwise, many politicians would have been lost to them. Time is running out. Our party and friends in other opposition parties should seize this moment to collaborate and rescue Nigeria from APC. Let us pray for our country as it speeds down the slope…”

Recall that the Ijaw national leader, Edwin Clark, had, in an open letter, called on the leadership of the PDP to investigate Wike over allegations of anti-party activities and expel him from the party if found guilty.

Wike, governor of the oil-rich Rivers State for eight years, has been critical of the leadership of the PDP after losing the party’s presidential ticket for the 2023 presidential election to Atiku Abubakar.

He refused to support Atiku in the lead-up to the 2023 general election and chose to back the APC candidate, Bola Tinubu, who emerged as the winner.

His appointment as the Minister of FCT is believed to be the reward for the support he gave Tinubu during the election.

Since becoming minister, Wike has been locked in a supremacy battle over the PDP structure in the state with Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, whom he backed to succeed him as governor.

Also, the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagun, has been accused of conspiring with Wike to ruin the party.

HOWEVER, a former National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Mark Jacob, pulled no punches and asked Wike to make the honourable decision of leaving the party.

On Arise News’ ‘Morning Show’ yesterday, Jacob accused Wike, who holds a key cabinet position in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government, of fueling the PDP’s internal crisis and criticised him for lacking integrity.

“I see him as a coward who is not bold enough to leave the PDP and go to the APC. Having taken a stance against the PDP, a gentleman who wants to be respected should have resigned from the PDP. You cannot be blowing hot and cold at the same time. You cannot be kicking against the PDP and still claim you are still PDP,” Jacob said.

He noted: “It is completely ungentlemanly. Anybody with a good conscience who wants to be respected, even by his children, should be ashamed when he does things like this because it is a complete irony. It is time people tell him the truth. You cannot in good conscience say you are a member of the PDP, and you are fighting PDP; it is not done anywhere.”

MEANWHILE, another PDP chieftain, Kola Ologbondiyan, has asked Damagum to revert to his position as Deputy National Chairman (North) so that a genuine reconciliation can take place in the party.

Ologbondiyan, a former National Publicity Secretary and the spokesman of the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation in the last election, told reporters there can be no reconciliation without justice for the North Central, which has been denied the position of National Chairman after the suspension of Dr Iyorchia Ayu.

He said: “The reconciliation committee headed by former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola must be courageous enough to tell Damagum that his position is that of Deputy National Chairman (North) and that nobody is saying that he must be removed from that position.

“But there can only be reconciliation, and for reconciliation to endure, there must be justice, and that justice is to allow the North Central to produce a successor to Dr Iyorchia Ayu.

“Reconciliation is a welcome development, but it must start from the office of the National Chairman. That is where it should begin because you cannot say you want to reconcile and come out with a swat for your perceived enemy. At a time you are talking of reconciliation, it means that himself needs to be reconciled.”

He added that the disciplinary committee is a welcome development. “The committees are good, but since Damagum himself has issues around him, he should also present himself before the committee. At the inauguration, he hinted about his perceived enemies, so he needs to be reconciled. But mind you, he is supposed to be the leader of the party, who is not supposed to take sides on any issue, but unfortunately, he said nobody can intimidate him. It means he has perceived enemies.

“If the party (to which) he is the acting chairman has consistently said that those who left the party have vacated their seats and the chairman and secretary wrote to the court to take a side between two party members, it means he has taken a side.”