The crack among governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the continued stay in office of the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, has widened with some of them taking their positions to the court of public opinion and the social media.
As of the time of filing this report, four governors have either used public fora or posts on their X handles to make their position on the Damagum debate known.
Sunday Vanguard gathered in Abuja that behind this rift is a proxy war between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on the one hand and the desire of some of the governors to remain politically relevant beyond 2027 on the other.
Of the 13 PDP state governors, namely: Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Umo Enoh ( Akwa Ibom), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Kefas Agbu (Taraba), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Peter Mbah (Enugu), Similaye Fubara (Rivers), Sheriff Oborewori (Delta), Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Caleb Muftwan (Plateau), and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), at least four will be ineligible to seek re-election in 2027.
Preferences
Ahead of the party’s rescheduled National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting slated for Thursday, October 24, 2024, Wike and his supporters haven’t hidden their preference for Damagum to remain in office until the party’s next Convention.
Atiku and his loyalists, on the other hand, are said to be pushing for a candidate from the North Central to complete the tenure of the ousted National Chairman, Sen. Iyiorchia Ayu.
A member of the party’s NEC privy to what’s going on told Sunday Vanguard in confidence that the governors “are being ripped apart by personal ambitions.”
The source explained, “Governors Fintiri, Makinde, Bala Mohammad and Diri will be completing their second term in office by 2027 and like most politicians, they will want to install successors.
“To do this, they will definitely be interested in having a party leadership that will not only support them in this endeavour, but they will also be interested in positioning themselves as power brokers within the party.
“There is also the issue of who becomes the party’s presidential and vice presidential candidates in the next general elections. Mohammed has somehow indicated interest just like Makinde.
“We hear Atiku is still interested and Wike is waiting in the wings to repeat what he did in 2023 by working for an APC presidency while retaining his membership of the PDP.