There is palpable tension in the House of Representatives as lawmakers of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are set to clash over a move to pass a vote of confidence on the party’s acting national chairman, Umar Iliya Damagun, amid clamour for his resignation over non-performance and negation of party’s zoning principle.
A group of PDP lawmakers alongside stakeholders have been clamouring for reform of the party including the resignation of the acting national chairman to enable North-Central zone assume the position zoned to them and commencement of disciplinary action against disloyal party members.
However, there is now a pro-Damagun PDP lawmakers group led by the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, who is planning to pass a vote of confidence on the acting national chairman despite his apparent inability to unite the party members.
It was gathered that a meeting of the PDP Caucus in the House will hold on Tuesday ahead of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting slated for Thursday.
A notice of the Caucus meeting sighted by our Correspondent was signed by the Minority Leader, Hon. Chinda and Minority Whip, Hon. Ali Isah JC.
The notice reads: “All members of the PDP Caucus of the House of Representatives are hereby invited to a Pre-NEC meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at House Committee Room 301 at the National Assembly, Abuja. The meeting will commence by 11am unfailingly, and attendance is essentially compulsory.”
However, there were strong indications that some of the PDP lawmakers may not attend the meeting and if the majority of them eventually attend, the seeming anti and pro-Damagun factions will not agree with the position of each other, hence a possible clash.
The move to pass a confidence vote on Damagun despite alleged non-performance and lack of support in the party, have polarised members against each other with majority of lawmakers fuming at such move as insensitive and move to rubbish the lawmakers and make them look like rubber stamp politicians that don’t know what is good for the party.
The caucus meeting, which will hold on Tuesday, has created so much tension as one of the PDP caucus members who spoke on condition of anonymity said those pushing the continued incompetence in the PDP and keeping of officials who are working with APC will incur the wrath of party members and lawmakers who will not take lightly such move most lawmakers described as ‘childish’.
According to the source; “some of the lawmakers said anything short of election of North-Central as acting chairman, resignation of Damagun, condemnation of anti-party activities of some highly placed members, condemnation of the decamping of PDP members in Rivers and disciplinary action against members of party pushing for anti-party against PDP candidate in Edo will not be acceptable and a recipe for huge crisis that will lead to a no confidence vote of the promoters of the meeting.
“PDP members are tired of being ridiculed publicly as lame duck party, hence the need to ensure that the meeting (NEC) comes up with hard decision on how to move the party forward and to also ensure that the position of the PDP lawmakers for NEC meeting is unanimous on issues of bringing discipline in the party and ensuring the PDP leadership ensures emergence of North-Central and also rebrand the party.”
The ongoing imbroglio in the PDP has torn the once united members of the party in the House of Representatives, setting the stage for further implosion in the umbrella family.
Earlier in the week, a group of 60 PDP federal lawmakers threatened to quit the party if the doctored lists of Caretaker Committees in Rivers and 10 other states which were filled with members and loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is not nullified.
The group under the aegis of Opposition Lawmakers Coalition also demanded the resignation of the acting national chairman of PDP, Damagun, to pave way for a North-Central person to emerge as acting chairman of the party pending the conduct of a convention as required by the party’s constitution.
The opposition lawmakers coalition at a press conference addressed by their Spokesperson, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, the member representing Ideato Federal constituency in the House of Representatives, said they cannot be in a political party where the activities of such party are determined by another political party.
“We call for immediate resignation of Umar Iliya Damagun as Ag National Chairman of PDP for anti-party activities and allow North central produce the acting chairman as clearly stated in the pdp constitution or watch us reconsider our membership of the party in the months ahead if the right thing is not done.
“The NEC of the Party should ensure that the list of party Caretaker Committees in Rivers State and all other 10 states tampered by Damagun and his APC friends are reversed and announced as originally agreed, that is by extension of the tenures of the outgoing leadership,” they had demanded.