The embattled acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Umar Damagum, has clarified that his meeting with state chairmen of the party has nothing to do with plots to retain his position.
Speaking at the PDP headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, Damagum said the meeting was simply about familiarizing themselves, stressing that more than half of the chairmen are new.
He added that Wednesday’s meeting has nothing to do with issues relating to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting which has been postponed three times as issues of NEC are strictly within the purview of the National Working Committee and the party chairman.
Damagum noted that Wednesday’s meeting was a normal interactive meeting and dismissed every insinuation stating otherwise.
He said: “For the record, I want to make it very clear that this meeting was to interact with the state chairmen. You can see from the introduction that more than half of the state chairmen here are brand new, for us to know ourselves and also discuss other matters such as the coming Zonal Congresses.
“It has nothing to do, like has been insinuated in the social media about NEC or something of that nature.
“You can read it. I have not met any of you chairmen, from the time you were invited until in this hall, if I am right. So, for the record, I want to set the record straight. There is no such issue.
“Issues of NEC are entirely within the purview of NWC and the chairman. So we are not calling the chairmen here to maybe insinuate anything.
“So just for the record, it is a normal interactive session to welcome the new chairmen that have just joined us and also to know ourselves and to further discuss the ongoing Zonal Congresses.
“As you know, there are already forms for the Zonal Congresses.”
The Imo state and Interim Chairman, PDP Chairman’s Forum, Austin Nwachukwu, also confirmed to newsmen at the venue that the meeting was simply to familiarize selves with the National Working Committee.
“Recall that a few months back, a lot of state congresses were held from wards, local government to the state.
“The NWC deemed it feet to gather all of us in Abuja to enable us to know each other. It is essentially to familiarize ourselves with the NWC and those of them whose tenure are still running and will be running out next year.
“We also discussed about zonal congresses. The forms are out, and those people that feel like contesting can go through their zonal offices to purchase the forms. We harped on unity among members of the party and across board,” he said.