Amid the commencement of fresh moves to reconcile warring parties in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, a simmering feud between the Board of Trustees, BOT, and National Working Committee, NWC, has deepened the crisis in the major opposition party, NewsNGR can report.
PDP Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Iliya Damagun, on Wednesday, August 21, inaugurated the reconciliation committee headed by former Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
However, as the committee gets set to proceed with its assignment, sources informed NewsNGR that a lingering feud between the BOT and the NWC has escalated in recent days, deepening the crisis in the party.
Sources in the party disclosed that Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, is at the centre of the feud between the two organs of the party – the BOT and the NWC.
The NWC, headed by acting chairman Damagun, runs the day-to-day activities of the party while the BOT plays a largely advisory role.
Although he is serving as a minister in the All Progressives Congress, APC administration, key figures in the NWC, particularly Damagun and National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, are loyal to Wike, who is believed to have played a major role in their emergence.
Sources informed NewsNGR that the BOT, headed by a former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, is opposed to Wike’s influence in the party, a development which has pitched the body against the NWC.
Wabara and Wike initially clashed in October 2023 when Wabara asked Anyanwu to resign as PDP national secretary on the ground that he cannot retain the position when he is equally the party’s governorship candidate in the November 11 election in Imo State.
Responding to Wabara in a letter to the PDP leadership, Wike jumped to Anyanwu’s defence, insisting that the BOT does not have the authority to declare who can occupy the office of national secretary of the party.
“The Ag. Chairman of the BOT is reminded that the issue of who occupies the position of National Secretary of the Party is beyond the BOT’s sphere of authority and influence,” Wike said in the letter.
Anyamwu retained the position, even after contesting the Imo governorship election, which he lost to Governor Hope Uzodinma of the APC.
Sources in the PDP, who did not wish to be named, said the feud between the NWC and the BOT has extended to the political crisis in Rivers State, where Wike and his successor, Governor Sim Fubara, are engaged in a supremacy battle.
According to the sources, while the NWC is with Wike, the BOT is sympathetic to Fubara.
The NWC’s “pro-Wike tendencies is the reason behind speculations that Fubara may leave PDP”, one of the sources explained.
Speaking with NewsNGR on Thursday, the source revealed that the BOT’s visit to Fubara on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, did not go down well with Wike, and by extension, the NWC.
According to the source, the visit is seen as the “BOT backing Fubara and also taking charge” in the affairs of the party.
During the visit, Wabara told Fubara that the BOT will not stand helplessly while the party “is destroyed by a few individuals”.
Wabara, who noted that the BOT, as the “conscience of the party”, will ensure that rule of law prevails, also commended Fubara for the manner he is handling the crisis.
“As a governor, we have former governors here (in the BOT), I doubt if they would have taken as much as you have. So, on behalf of this party, once again, let me thank you for your resilience, your wisdom, and for the fact that you are still in this party,” Wabara said.
The BOT visit to Fubara elicited an angry outburst from Wike on Wednesday, August 21, when the minister declared that the ex-Senate President was not worthy to be the party’s BOT chairman.
Speaking at a press briefing to mark his one year in office as FCT minister, Wike accused Wabara of anti-party activities for allegedly endorsing Abia State Governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party, LP, for a second term.
Wike said, “Wabara is the PDP BOT chairman, the governor of his state, Alex Otti has not stayed one year when Wabara said his second term is guaranteed. This is the second term of another political party, yet he said he is the conscience of the party (PDP).
“You have taken a position and you are inviting Wike? To do what? To waste my time? Wabara is not in a position to lead.”
Wike further alleged that Wabara was compensated with the position of BOT chairman.
“Do you know how he became the chairman of the PDP BOT? Ask him. In 2023, he led a team to visit me when the crisis in PDP was about the presidential candidate. Ask him where the report is? I say what kind of characters are these?
“That was the team he led. He said they were going to submit the report, even in the meeting he was telling me about the problem, that they would not budge and I said that the right thing must be done. Ask him about the report.
“The next day they made him acting chairman of the PDP to compensate him.”
Wike also responded to calls by elder statesman and Ijaw Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, for his expulsion from the party.
Clark, in an open letter to the party’s leadership on August 20, said Wike must be expelled for the PDP to survive. Clark, who backed the BOT in the letter, also accused PDP acting chairman Damagun, and National Secretary Anyanwu, of complicity in Wike’s onslaught against Fubara.
Clark specifically accused Wike, Damagun and Anyanwu of anti-party activities and advised that, rather than setting up a reconciliation committee, the party leadership should set up a panel to “probe members like Barr. Nyesom Wike, and, if found guilty, to face the appropriate sanctions as prescribed by the party’s constitution”.
Responding to Clark’s letter, Wike insisted that he will not leave the PDP, even as he continues to serve as a minister in the APC government.
“I will not leave PDP even when the fight at home (Rivers State) and at the national level gets tougher. I will fight to the last. I am not prepared to join the APC. I have said it and I want to repeat it again,” he said.
The PDP source, who spoke to NewsNGR on Thursday, said acting chairman Damagun has come under increased pressure with fresh calls for his removal.
Days before Clark’s open letter, the PDP UK Chapter had accused Damagun and Anyanwu of working to sabotage the party from within and called for their expulsion from the party.
While inaugurating the reconciliation committee on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, Damagun, apparently reacting to calls for his removal, insisted that he will not abdicate his responsibility.
He said, “I have a responsibility to this party to keep it safe and stable. I intend to take all necessary actions to ensure the party remains stable. But I’ve reached a point where I have to speak out. I’ve avoided talking because I know so many things.
“When I open my mouth, I know it will not be pleasant, but that’s the price of leadership. I’m ready to take that bashing, more bashing. And to my detractors, let me tell you, you’ll see more. Because I will not abdicate my responsibility.”
Meanwhile, amid the deepening crisis in the party, the PDP leadership has expressed confidence that the fresh reconciliation moves will yield the desired results.
PDP National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba gave the assurance while speaking with NewsNGR on Thursday.
Asked if it is still possible for peace to return to the PDP, Ologunagba said, “If we don’t believe it will work we won’t start it. One thing people should understand is that when a party is properly structured it goes through a process. The process might be slow, just like any other thing in life but the NEC (National Executive Committee) of the party has determined the necessary thing.”
The PDP spokesman said the situation in the party is normal with most families and would definitely be resolved.
“Reconciliation is a normal process even at family level. Sometimes you get angry with your wife or so and you reconcile. It is a daily thing. It is that not so? It becomes more important to have reconciliation and a committee like that in a political party where you have competing and conflicting interests, where you have to balance them.
“There will be issues and the ability to bring those issues out and work on them is what reconciliation is. So if you don’t believe in it (reconciliation) you won’t start it.
“Do you think as a party we will do what we don’t believe in? At some point in time you do reconciliation, even at family level when there are challenges,” he added.