Damagum: I’m Contemplating Vying for Presidency Because I’ve Become So Popular

•Says he won’t be intimidated by critics over letter to appeal court  

•Wabara tells reconciliation, disciplinary c’ttees to do their work regardless of interests

•I won’t run away from PDP vampires, Wike boasts

Chuks Okocha and Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iliya Damagum, yesterday, said he had begun to contemplate running for the presidency in 2027, because the deluge of negative media exposures had inadvertently given him undue popularity, huge enough to throw his hat in the ring.

He also replied critics over the letter he wrote to the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, saying he could not be intimidated, because he consulted widely before he wrote the letter.

He also stated repeatedly in his speech during the inauguration of the party’s reconciliation and disciplinary committees that his actions were in the overall interest of the party.

This was as the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Adolphus Wabara, charged the two committees to be above board in the discharge of their duties as they remained the livewire of the party.

However, referring to the letter he and the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, wrote to the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Damagum said, “Just because the chairman and secretary signed a letter, it has become an issue. People are making all sorts of insinuations about it. I don’t want to engage with the other person – it’s a distraction.

“But it pains me when I see someone who knows the workings of the NWC going on television to mislead the audience and say things that are not correct. It is painful. Very, very painful.

”There is precedent for what we did. During Kashamu’s case, the chairman and secretary brought it to the Supreme Court. There was also the issue of Anambra. The chairman and secretary, in any situation, work as a team. I don’t make decisions without consulting my members.

“I’ve always been proud of that. My door has always been open. So, nobody is going to intimidate me into abdicating my responsibility.

“You can say all sorts of things. I know this is a buildup to the next election. ‘Damagum must go, Damagum must go’. I thank God. People are making me very popular lately. Anytime you open social media or television, it’s Damagum, Damagum.

“Honestly speaking, I’ve started contemplating throwing myself into the ring and vying for the presidency of this country. Because I’ve become popular, even though the negative publicity is meant to bring me down, I’m not deterred.

“I have a responsibility to this party to keep it safe and stable. I intend to take all necessary actions to ensure the party remains stable. But I’ve reached a point where I have to speak out.

“I’ve avoided talking because I know so many things. When I open my mouth, I know it will not be pleasant, but that’s the price of leadership. I’m ready to take that bashing, more bashing.

“And to my detractors, let me tell you, you’ll see more of that letter, because I will not abdicate my responsibility. But I will act within the confines of the law, as stipulated by the constitution. So I’m not distracted. You can try to bring me down, but importantly, while doing so, please remember that we have NEC.

“So, for those interested in seeing Damagum go, this is a build-up to undermine me before we have NEC. But if you bring Damagum down and lose the party, what have you achieved? Because in trying to bring me down, you are also bringing down your party,” he stated.

Continuing, he said, “Every time people say the party is dying, they are sending a message to the opposition that we are weak. If you believe in the party, you should speak positively, unless you are an agent of destruction.

“You should be positive whenever you talk,  if you believe in this party. So, I see this as an opportunity to clear the air. We’ve just had successful congresses.

“Nobody is congratulating the NWC for these successful congresses, nobody. But I want to ask that when you are opposing from within, be mindful that your actions can harm the party.

“It’s not about Damagum. I may leave tomorrow, but the party will still be here. I know this seat is a hot seat. My predecessors also faced challenges in this position. I’m taking my own version of the heat. I’m not retiring.

“But, importantly, I want to ask all of us, especially these committees, if you feel that in the past we’ve been compromised and have been called names, remember, nobody is giving us credit for the fact that today the party is still united. It’s still intact. You have a responsibility now, before you.

“We are not perfect. I have to admit that. We are human beings, and we may have our shortcomings. That’s why this committee is in place at the right time,” he stated.

Specifically, addressing Chief Edwin Clark, he said, “I will borrow Olisa Metu remarks from 2015, when Edwin Clark left the party, stating that, ‘There’s no doubt that he is an elder statesman.

“But I thought that when you reach that age, God has given you the opportunity and wisdom to be a father to all, not to engage in public arguments. He has all it takes to do the needful, not by taking a sentimental approach to the situation. I was not raised to be disrespectful to elders, so I don’t intend to dwell on this further,” stressed.

In his comment, Wabara who is the chairman of the PDP Bot,  urged the two committees to function without fear or favour, no matter whose ox was gored, and as much as the party’s Constitution directed.

“Whatever decisions or actions you will take, failure of which, in my considered opinion, will lead to Nigeria becoming a one-party state. This is the beginning, because without an opposition, there is no democracy.

“And you are now to establish that today. I’ll be very brief. It’s very clear – the truth must be told all the time. This party should not be allowed to die in the hands of these two committees,” he stressed.

Chairmen of the two committee, Chief Tom Ikimi and Chief Olagunsoye Olonloye, pledged to do their best to reposition the party.

This, nonetheless, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has vowed that he would never quit the PDP for political vampires.

He stated this yesterday at a media chat broadcast on televisions to mark his first year in office as minister in response to a question seeking to clarify that he might leave the party in the future if the crises rocking the party continue.

“I have told you that I don’t run away from any fight. I will stay there and I will fight it out in the PDP. Yes, who I am going to run? The vampires?

“I will fight to the last. I am not prepared to join the APC. I have said it and I want to repeat it again. The work I am doing here was handed over to me by the president.

“And I am focus on achieving the task before me.  I will not fold my arms and allow the party I have suffered for over the years to continuously do injustice to members. I will not accept that,” Wike vowed.

He also brushed aside insinuation that some of his loyalists, particularly the 27 members of the Rivers House of Assembly had defected to the ruling APC, as a media speculation and matter still before the court.

In addition, he further rejected the label of a fifth columnist in the PDP by political adversaries that he was working on the script to destroy the party.

Wike said: “Those are people who don’t have anything to say. Everybody who knows me knows too well that if I want to join APC today, when l was in the PDP, didn’t I say I would never support their presidential candidate? Did I do it secretly? All those people who have said those things, did they bring one member that won election?

“The PDP still did not win. I stood my ground on the context of principle that this is not done and we would not accept that. People should know me for something – positivity is very, very important.  Forget about those who say ‘Wike say this, say that.”

He attributed the PDP crisis to the greed of some stakeholders, who refused to abide by the party constitution, saying, “The only thing that has caused this is because people are very greedy.

“All I am saying is what does the constitution of the party say? I will not just as a prominent member of the party fold my arm to allow those who were not appointed to preside over those who were elected. National Chairman is by election, not by appointment.

“If you are doing caretaker it can be by appointment but if it is to preside over those who are elected, that chairman must be by election and that has been the convention.

“The fact is that I am a PDP man and the law must be followed and if you think that you can go and sit down somewhere and say you will do this, you will cause crises for yourself,” Wike asserted.