PDP Crisis: Wike Faction Creates Parallel BoT, Picks Ohuabunwa As Chairman
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is sinking deeper in leadership crisis. A faction, led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Friday created a parallel Board of Trustees (BoT) for the party.
The faction named a former senator, Mao Ohuabunwa, as its BoT chairman and one Isah Dansidi as Board Secretary.
The mainstream PDP, led by Umar Damagum as National Chairman, has Senator Adolphus Wabara as chairman and Senator Ahmed Makarfi as Secretary of the BoT respectively.
The creation of the factional BoT was announced by a recently appointed factional national chairman, Abdulrahman Mohammed at a media conference in Abuja.
The emergence of factional chairmen in the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and the BoT, has offered would be defectors the required constitutional backing to do so.
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The creation of a factional BoT was the latest in several moves by the Wike camp to truncate the planned PDP national convention scheduled for November 15 and 16, in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Recall the the FCT Minister’s camp had, on October 31, obtained a judgment of an Abuja federal high court halting the convention.
In a counter move, the Damagum camp, backed mainly by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, had obtained an Ex Parte Order from a high court in Ibadan, clearing the way for the convention.
The Wike camp responded by filling an appeal with the Court of Appeal, Abuja, seeking to vacate the Ex Parte order of the Ibadan court.
In yet another move, Damagum, had a few days ago, written to inform the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of the suspension of the party’s National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu and three other members of the NWC for alleged anti party activities.
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Anyanwu, who is the arrowhead of the Wike camp, was suspended alongside the National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade; National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature and one other officer.
In rataliation, the Wike camp also suspended Damagum, the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba; the Deputy National Chairman, Taofeek Arapaja; and Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo.
The Minister’s camp also wrote to the INEC, informing the electoral body of the suspension of Damagum and others, and informing INEC of the cancellation of the planned convention.
The national secretariat of the PDP has been under lock and key since Monday, on the orders of the Wike camp, with Anyanwu saying the secretariat was locked to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
The highlight of a communique read after a meeting of the factional BoT, led by its chairman, Ohuabunwa, was for PDP members nationwide to obey the Abuja Federal High Court judgement halting the planned convention.
The bottom line in the power tussle between the two camps, apparently shows that while the camp loyal to the Oyo governor is working towards actualising the convention, the camp loyal to the FCT Minister is working to truncate it.
