Opposition lawmakers have raised alarms over a purported scheme to weaken the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by extending the tenure of its acting national chairman, Umar Damagun, until 2027. The lawmakers, who gathered for a press conference on Sunday in Akokwa, Imo State, claim that some PDP governors and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) are orchestrating the move.
Speaking for the group, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere accused certain party members of planting 24 state chairmen who would endorse President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 elections, ensuring Damagun remains in power long after the national convention. He denounced these individuals as impostors, vowing to block their plan through newly organized party structures.
Ugochinyere criticized the current state of the PDP, calling out party leaders for their failure to provide effective opposition during Nigeria’s numerous challenges. He expressed frustration that the PDP, a party founded in 1998 by prominent figures like Alex Ekwueme, Jerry Gana, and Atiku Abubakar, was being undermined by internal factions seeking to turn it into an extension of the ruling party.
According to Ugochinyere, these “impostors,” including Damagun and others like Samuel Anyanwu, are working to sabotage the party by preventing a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) that could elect a new national chairman from the North Central, as originally intended. He described the delay in calling this meeting, which has been postponed multiple times under various pretexts, as a deliberate strategy to keep Damagun in place.
Further, Ugochinyere accused PDP governors of aligning themselves with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and undermining the party’s core values. He expressed particular concern about the activities of Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, claiming that Wike was attempting to seize control of Rivers State’s resources and impeach the governor, Siminalayi Fubara. Ugochinyere warned that such actions would fail and that the PDP would resist any attempt to weaken its structures.
The opposition lawmaker also expressed discontent with Wike’s treatment of fellow party members, citing his conflicts with governors like Okezie Ikpeazu, Samuel Ortom, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, all of whom lost recent elections. He called on President Bola Tinubu to be cautious in dealing with Wike, suggesting that the former governor of Rivers State may be a destabilizing force within the party.
In closing, Ugochinyere declared that any attempt to tamper with Rivers State’s statutory allocation, or any other part of the federal structure, would lead to chaos, and that PDP members would not allow Wike’s efforts to succeed
