PDP Crisis: Groups pile pressure on BoT, govs to bar Atiku, Wike from NEC meeting

Ahead of its National Executive Council (NEC), meeting scheduled for Thursday in Abuja, concerned groups of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are pushing to bar Atiku Abubakar and Nyesom Wike from attending the meeting.

Specifically, the groups are piling pressure on the Party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), PDP Governors Forum, and the National Working Committee (NWC) to stop the duo.

According to them, barring the two individuals would help restore sanity and political stability in the party.

 Meanwhile, the PDP Northern Professionals Movement and PDP Elders Support Group in a joint statement after a meeting with other stakeholders of the party from 22 States of the North in Kaduna, also kicked against the calls for the removal of Usman Iliya Damagum as acting chairman of the party, arguing that, the case of the suspended chairman, Iyorcha Ayu is still in court.

They added that Damagum as Deputy Chairman, North, came in an acting capacity and until the court determines Ayu’s matter or Ayu resigns, Damagum remains in that capacity.

Leaders of the two groups, Mr Isaac Samuel and Dr Muazzam Lawal Sadauki in a joint press statement, described the ongoing attacks on the personality of Damagum and the National Working Committee of the PDP by some youths in the social media as “unfortunate”.

The groups, however, expressed confidence in the leadership of the party saying despite the post-2023 general election abandonment by the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike, the party is standing strong.

“These are coming up because of the interest of some individuals who are eager to control the soul of our party unconstitutionally. These include people who have abandoned the party several times after the general elections.

“The task before the party leaders now is to identify the grey areas to address such and then return the desired peace and unity to the PDP,” the statement read in part.