As the battle over who emerges as substantive national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues to rage, the North Central Zonal Caucus of the party has slated a crucial meeting for today, Daily Trust has learnt.
Multiple sources confided in one of our correspondents yesterday that the meeting has been called for stakeholders from the zone to come up with a stand on the chairmanship and a consensus candidate to be presented to the party during the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday.
Recall that the agitation for the North Central to complete the tenure of the ousted chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, has regained momentum in recent weeks as the day for the party's NEC meeting approaches.
Already, five aspirants have shown interest in taking over from the acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, and allowing him to revert to his original position as the National Deputy Chairman (North) of the party.
The aspirants so far are Senator Gabriel Suswam, a former Governor of Benue State; Humphrey Abah, a former Minister of Police Affairs; Phillip Salawu, a former Deputy Governor of Kogi State; Emmanuel Agbo, a former Deputy National Secretary of the party; and Conrad Terhile Utaan, a former Senior Special Assistant in Benue State on Social Investments and the plaintiff in the court case that led to the ousting of Ayu.
It was, however, gathered that some of the stakeholders from the North Central Zone have been lobbying Senators David Mark and Bukola Saraki, two former Senate Presidents from the zone, to also join the trail and come in to reorganize the party.
David Mark is said to have outrightly rejected while the Saraki option is said to be facing the challenge of his state (Kwara) currently having a representative in the NWC.
Those expected at this meeting are representatives from the six North Central states of Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau States, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which include serving and former governors and deputy governors from the zone who are members of the party.
Others are serving and former members of the National Assembly, former members of the National Executive Committee, the state chairmen, deputy chairmen, and secretaries of the party in the states in the zone, and serving and former speakers of the Houses of Assembly in the zone.
Also expected at the meeting are serving and former ministers, special advisers, and senior special assistants to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from the zone.
One of the aspirants for the chairmanship, Conrad Utaan, yesterday promised to set up a new agenda for the party.
Utaan, in the wake of the suspension slammed on the former national chairman by his kinsmen, dragged Ayu to court to vacate his seat, a prayer subsequently upheld, which led to the ousting of Ayu from office.
Speaking on his aspiration, Utaan noted that he has what it takes to reunify the factions that exist within the party.
"I am focused on setting a new agenda in party administration and can be trusted to reunify the factions that currently exist within our ranks. I am focused on healing the many cracks that have broken the true essence of our political culture as a party and winning back the admiration of all Nigerians," he said.
Damagum lobbies N/Central with deputy chairmanship
As the politicking thickens, it was gathered that the acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, has appealed to the members of the North Central Zonal Caucus to allow him to complete the tenure of Ayu while he yields the deputy chairmanship to the zone.
A source who is aware of the permutations towards the NEC and the call on Damagum to revert to his position said that the Yobe-born politician, in one of the several meetings leading to the NEC meeting, made the overtures to the North Central caucus "but the suggestion has been rejected by stakeholders from the zone."
The source, who did not want his name in print because he was not authorized to speak on the issue, told Daily Trust that "Damagum is showing that he would not give up easily. He has those who are supporting him, working for him, and promising him that he can succeed Ayu as the National Chairman of the party.
"The crisis presently is that Damagum has asked the North Central to allow him to complete the tenure of Ayu and the zone to bring his deputy. But the proposal has been rejected. I can tell you that many people are not happy with the acting chairman for saying that because he understands the constitution of the party and should not be the one to violate it."
Daily Trust gathered that those working for Damagum have asked him not to lose any sleep and that they will deliver him as chairman. The group is also said to be talking to those they can convince to work with Damagum as deputy to support them for the acting chairman to retain his seat.
When contacted, Damagun simply said "I am not fron North Central. I don't know anything about this."
Reps caucus divided over vote of confidence for Damagum
In a related development, it was gathered that the party's caucus in the House of Representatives, during its meeting yesterday, disagreed over a move to pass a vote of confidence on Damagum.
A group of members of the caucus led by Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere were said to have rejected the alleged attempt to turn the meeting into an avenue to pass the vote of confidence on Damagum.
A member of the group, who spoke anonymously, said, "We are glad that the plan of the pro-Wike group supporting Damagum fell like a pack of cards as we refused all entreaties to perpetuate illegality and the stoking of crises in the party. Our position remains that Damagum must go for someone from north-central to take over and complete Ayu's tenure."
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But briefing journalists after the meeting on Tuesday, the House Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), said they have agreed to call on the party's caucuses, the Board of Trustees, the NEC, and the NWC to embark on a reconciliatory agenda.
He said the measures to be taken are to resolve all pending litigations that have hindered the party from having a substantive national chairman.
National Caucus meets today
In a related development, the NWC has announced that the National Caucus meeting of the party will also take place today.
The Caucus meeting is expected to come before the 98th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, slated for Thursday.
Debo Ologunagba, National Publicity Secretary, said in a statement that the Board of Trustee (BoT) meeting will also be held at the PDP National Secretariat on Thursday, after which the NEC meeting will commence.
He asked non-members of the NEC to stay away from the meeting on Thursday.
"For the purpose of accreditation, only constitutionally accredited members of NEC will be allowed into the meeting," he said.
