Embattled Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Illya Umar Damagum, has said the struggle to stay in office was not a matter of life and death for him.
However, despite the outcome of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday, the party leadership has slated another NEC for August 15, during which the party intends to elect a substantive national chairperson.
Fielding questions on how he felt about the power struggle in the last few weeks, Damagum said leadership change or not would not rob him of his place in the party.
“This is not a matter of life and death. I am still an elected member of this NEC. Even if I revert to deputy national chairman, I’m still a member of NWC. The issue of surviving or not does not emerge,” he said.
On his part, the PDP Governors’ Forum chairman, Bala Muhammed, while speaking on the outcome of the NEC, said, “You can see there was no dissension and rancour.
“It was planned that the party will have an implosion. PDP is more than that. We have gone beyond all these idiosyncracries. This party is a united party that is guided by experience and constitutionality.
“There were a lot of permutations and mischievous thinking outside there. But we looked at all the issues and we worked along our guidelines and constitution. There is no problem or dissension and problem among members.”
On choosing a new chairman from North Central, he said, “In the next two months, we will see a lot of activities. Leadership is a responsibility.
“We said in August we would have come out from our congresses. We will look at the issue of leadership and look at the issue of our constitution, where it will be. And we will do it with no rancour.”
