60 lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives on Monday called for the resignation of the Acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, accusing him of working for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The lawmakers led by member representing Ideato North/Ideato South federal constituency, Hon Ikenga Imo Ugo Chinyere, questioned why the party leadership has stayed silent on the political situation in Rivers State and instead watched President Bola Tinubu intervene.
The lawmakers claimed to be speaking on behalf of at least 60 lawmakers in the opposition lawmakers’ coalition in the National Assembly.
They said the local government leadership change of the party was planned sabotage by Damagum. According to the lawmakers, under Damagum, the PDP has been crumbling, losing elections and court cases.
“Not only did Damagun hold tight unto the seat for well over a year now, he has abdicated every responsibility of the office of the chairman of PDP and is very comfortable serving APC interests,” the lawmakers stated.
“There had been agreement of a broad spectrum of the party leadership when it became clear that Damagum was not interested in conducting elections but to appoint caretaker committees in at least 19 states where the tenures of the state and local government leaders were expiring to extend the tenures of these officials by three months.
“This decision which was made to cover every state, was the wisdom that restrained Damagum from announcing a wholesale list of a majority of caretaker committees populated by APC agents masquerading as PDP members.
“However, despite that decision to retain everybody, Mr. Damagun went ahead and received a list of APC agents and announced them as members and leaders of the PDP local government caretaker committees wholesomely in Rivers State and partially in at least 10 other states. This is a direct attempt to kill the PDP and ensure it goes into extinction.
“To make issues clearer, we are speaking on behalf of at least 60 lawmakers in the opposition lawmakers’ coalition in the National Assembly. We all won our elections without any form of help or support from the party hierarchy. It has become clearer to us that this scenario was foisted so that as many of us as possible will fail in elections. Damagum never really wanted us to win.
“Voices have risen from the National Assembly to speak out and stop you. You have a chance to resign immediately, leave or be embarrassed out of the party. At least 60 of us in the PDP in the National Assembly will severe all relation with the Damagun leadership until he leaves office.
“At the scheduled National Executive Committee meeting, if Damagun by any maneuvering however conjectured remains in office with the help of his APC friends at the end of the day, the party is now heading to the final slaughter house.”
