By Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
A group of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national officials have charged aggrieved leaders of the opposition party to accept the leadership of the acting national chairman, Umar Damagum, or resign.
The national officials, at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, said Damagum’s case is settled until December 2025. They stated that it is wrong for party members to be demarketing the party instead of exploring internal crisis resolution mechanisms.
The deputy national youth leader, Timothy Osadolor, who spoke on behalf of the national officials, said the demarketing of the PDP by aggrieved party members must stop forthwith.
PDP leaders have been divided on whether Damagum should be replaced or allowed to continue as acting national chairman. The division in the opposition party deepened recently, following the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, which affirmed the nomination of former National Youth Leader Sunday Ude-Okoye as a replacement for Senator Samuel Anyanwu as national secretary.
However, Anyanwu has appealed the judgment, while the appellate court has directed the parties to maintain the status quo.
Nevertheless, Osadolor, who noted that “all have sinned,” charged party stalwarts to bury their pride and join hands with the acting national chairman in building the party.
He said, “Worrisome is the action of members of the party who, under the guise of ‘due process advocates’, act on behalf of self-serving leaders lurking behind the scenes, mischievously causing misunderstandings in the party.
“This behaviour is apparently self-serving on their part, as it is not in the interest of the PDP in any way. It is ethically and morally wrong for members of the party to move around creating confusion instead of exploring our internal mechanism for peace.”