Damagum’s silence on Wike’s letter, worrisome – PDP chieftain

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party has said the silence of the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, over claims by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nysom Wike, that he notified him in writing when he was nominated by President Bola Tinubu for a ministerial position is worrisome.

The PDP and its 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, are challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

The stand of the party on the election notwithstanding, Wike accepted a cabinet position and last week, dared any member of the party to suspend him, a development that unsettled Atiku’s camp, prompting the former vice president to remind Wike that he would be sanctioned at the appropriate time.

However, party chieftains insisted that Wike’s continued membership of the PDP posed a huge threat to whatever the former vice president might have in mind politically for the future on the platform of the PDP.

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The chieftain and former governor, who did not want to be named, told Sunday PUNCH, “It is still like a dream that Wike’s claim that he wrote to the acting National Chairman has not been addressed by the man at the centre of all this.

“Why is Damagum silent? If Wike wrote to him, did he present the letter before the NWC members? Were they also aware? Perhaps, he needs more time to think and make up his mind on what to do.

 “Some of us have intervened privately but our advice has so far been ignored. This is not the PDP we used to know. I am not aware that any man or woman ever boasted on live television that he or she is bigger than the PDP.

“First, it is a shame that a man who claims to be a PDP member will be nominated to serve a government whose legitimacy we are challenging in court. It is even more shameful that the NEC and NWC are carrying on as if nothing has happened.”

A member of the National Working Committee, who did not want his name in print, said unless Wike was expelled from the PDP, Atiku would struggle in vain to mount a serious opposition ahead of the next election cycle.

“There is a reason Wike is boasting the way he is doing. A lot of people are saying what they don’t know. Some have claimed that the leadership of the party cannot challenge him because he (Wike) gave them a lot of money. The truth is that Wike was not the only governor who spent money to keep the PDP as a formidable opposition party.

“Atiku cannot be in firm control of party affairs if Wike’s men populate the NWC. This is the dilemma we are in,” he added.

Meanwhile, Deputy National Youth Leader of the PDP, Timothy Osadolor has assured party members that the era of Wike deciding the direction of the party is over.

Osadolor said, “The PDP is not the personal asset of Wike and as such, he cannot stop the party from making progress. I agree there are issues but they will be resolved.

“Atiku is a democrat who believes in the rule of law. The Presidential Election Petition Court will deliver its ruling soon and after that, Nigerians will know if Wike truly owns the PDP or not. Let’s be patient.”