PDP Governors Choose the High Road, Order Feuding Members to Revert to Status Quo

•Bauchi governor says stakeholders will decide on Oct 24 NEC meeting

•Damagum blames media for escalating crisis, accepts latest path to peace

Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Governors elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, chose what was probably the least harmful path to resolution of the crisis plaguing the party by ordering a reversion to the status quo before the crisis escalated.

The governors disclosed that PDP stakeholders would sit to take a decision on the October 24 National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

After a meeting on Monday, which continued yesterday, the chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, gave an update on the state of the party.

Mohammed said the intervention of the party’s governors and other stakeholders had yielded peace, as all suspensions and counter-suspensions had been cancelled and all combatants directed to revert to status quo.

Speaking to newsmen after their meeting, Mohammed and the embattled acting National Chairman, Iilya Damagum, claimed peace had returned to PDP.

Mohammed said, “We affirm that there is no faction in the PDP. We have reverted to the status quo.”

He explained, “We have all organs of the party at the meeting. We have the NWC, the caucus of National Assembly, the Board of Trustees (BoT) are here.

“We have resolved everything. There is no faction in the PDP. We have reverted to the status quo. There is no party that does not have any problem or cleavages.”

On the court order that restrained the party from removing Damagum, the Bauchi State governor said, “We don’t want to pre-empt the outcome of legal proceedings. Whatever speculations that have gone out are wrong.

“All parties have agreed to come back to status quo before the commencement of this perceived crisis of suspension and counter-suspension.”

Mohammed said the stakeholders would meet to decide on the NEC meeting.

“The governors, the NWC and National Assembly caucus and the BoT will sit down to discuss the sacrosanctity of the NEC meeting,” he said.

Insisting that no one was suspended, Mohammed said, “That is the resolution reached by the PDP Governors’ Forum. Our message is to those who want to foment problem; to tell that it is PDP we have and Nigeria is our constituency. We are the most experienced party.

“We have produced governments and good governance since 1999. We have made sacrifices to move this country and party forward. Both contending parties have agreed to come back to the status quo to the overall interest of the party and Nigerians.

“Our personal feelings should not be inputted to created bad perception that will divide us.”

Damagum, also, explained, “There is no any crisis as far as I am concerned, but in situations like this, people will like to cash in on it, especially you, members of the press. You escalate things, even where there is no crisis.

“As far as I am concerned, the governors’ forum, our leaders and other critical stakeholders, have spoken and when they speak, we have to look at it holistically and abide by their decision.”

On the suspension of the National Legal Adviser, Adeyemi Ajijade, and National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, Mohammed said they were still members of the party

Immediately after the briefing, all the PDP governors departed to Akure for the flag-off of the Ondo State governorship campaigns.

Other governors who attended the meeting were Siminalyi Fubara (Rivers), Douye Diri (Bayelsa), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Oluseyi Makinde (Oyo), Senator Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), and Peter Mbah (Enugu).

Last week, the PDP leadership crisis escalated with the National Working Committee (NWC) suspending Ologunagba and Ajibade for alleged disloyalty and insubordination.

In a pushback, the camp of Ologunagba announced the suspension of Damagum and the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu.

They also announced the National Treasurer, Yayari Mohammed, as a replacement for Damagum.