The acting national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Umar Iliya Damagum has defended his controversial relationship with the minister for federal capital territory, Nyesom Wike.
Ambassador Damagum while speaking to BBC Hausa, refuted the claims by some prominent members of the PDP that is in collusion with the All Progressive Congress (APC) and serving the interest of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC; interest which is to destabilize the PDP and incapacitate the party across the states of the federation with the aim of ensuring president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s smooth ride to reelection in 2027.
Damagum declared that he has no link with the APC and has not in anyway reached a secret pact with president Bola Ahmed Tinubu as being speculated that he had met the Nigeria’s president in London and currently working for the president.
Damagum maintained that his loyalty has been to the PDP since he joined the party in 1999. He said he has never defected nor sought the downfall of the party since his membership in 1999.
Reacting to claims that he is Nyesom Wike’s stooge whom Wike has been using to dictate the party’s national leadership affairs, Damagum suggested that there is no wrong in his relationship with Nyesom Wike. He countered the narrative that he is loyal to Nyesom Wike and doing his biddings. According to him, those who accuse him of being Wike’s puppet had also had relationship with the former Rivers state governor who currently serves as the FCT minister.
Damagum added that the reason he is being accused of being Wike’s puppet is because he has refused to act in the interest of some persons who want him to take unjust actions against Nyesom Wike.
He promised that while he remains the acting national chairman of the PDP that his actions and words must be within the party’s constitution and interest.
Reacting to the defection of members of the party including those who were elected on the platform of the PDP into politics positions, Damagum described the development as painful. He explained that those who have defected to the ruling party can not claim that they have been wronged by the PDP. He said they did so for their personal interest and not because the party has wronged them. He described their defections as painful noting that no one who loses his ally to an opponent would feel happy over the loss.
The People’s Democratic party, supposedly the main opposition party in Nigeria, since losing presidential election in 2015, has been grappling with internal crisis; crisis which has made the party lacking in providing good opposition to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
The wobbly national leadership of the party which is adjudged loyal to Nyesom Wike, a former governor and member of the party who also is a prominent member of ruling party’s cabinet– he is charge of the federal capital territory, has created the impression that the opposition party has become an affiliate of the ruling party. While several efforts have been made by the party members to reposition the party ahead of the 2027 general elections, it appears as though the grip on the party by the ruling party through their proxies in the PDP, can not be easily undone.
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