Kola Ologbodiyan, former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) says that the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party, slated for Thursday, will focus on reinforcing unity and cohesion within the party’s fabric and addressing Umar Iliya Damagun’s assumed position as acting national chairman.
Said Ologbodiya:“I do not think the meeting on Thursday is going to be about ‘are we electing a leader or are we discussing leadership’? What the meeting is about, from what I am picking among leaders and among members, is would Damagun remain in office or will he be replaced?
Speaking on an Arise TV interview programme, Tuesday, Ologbodiyan further said: “There are those who have come up with the argument that the vacancy does not exist in the office of the chairmanship and they argue that Damagun is there because the constitution provides that where the chairman ceases to exist either by resignation, by death and by all the conditions put forward by the constitution, the deputy national chairman from that zone, that is from the north-south dichotomy, would be the one to stand in office pending when a substantive chairman is brought forward.
“So, the north central is saying we want to bring forward a replacement which would be the substantive chairman. I think that is the major issue that the party will have to contend with on Thursday.”
Ologbodiyan had said earlier in the interview that: “It would be childish to reduce the upcoming NEC to leadership of the party. Leadership is natural in the PDP and everybody knows who his or her leader is in the party. The issue of whether it is Wike that is going to be named the leader, or whether it’s Atiku that would be named a leader, they pan into irrelevance. What’s important is how do we hold the party together. How do we put the PDP together in a manner that it can function with the ideals of its founders?”
