Umar Damagum, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) acting national chairman, has denied that the party had held its South-South Zonal Elective Congress, despite rumors to the contrary.
Damagum reportedly said this on Thursday at the South-South Zonal Caretaker Committee’s inauguration at the PDP National Headquarters in Wadata Plaza, Abuja.
His statements go counter to the party’s alleged zonal congress on February 22. After receiving 174 votes, Dan Orbih, a supporter of Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, was named the National Vice Chairman for the South-South by Vita Abba, the chairman of the electoral committee during that congress.
Attending the congress in Calabar, Wike insisted that the procedure was lawful and definitive. Insisting that Orbih’s leadership was genuine, he rebuffed the idea of a new congress and reiterated that the South-South remains the PDP’s strongest base.
However, the party’s internal conflicts were shown by the absence of four South-South governors at the congress.
Wike was fired by the Damagum-led National Working Committee (NWC), which also rescheduled the zonal congress for April 12 and named Emma Ogidi as the Caretaker Committee’s chairman on March 7.
Damagum reaffirmed the NWC’s position during his remarks during the inauguration: “The South-South Zonal Congress has not been held as far as the NWC is concerned. We are forming a Caretaker Committee today because their term is over.
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Several prominent members of the party attended the ceremony, including National Secretary Sunday Ude-Okoye, former PDP National Chairman Uche Secondus, Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, and PDP Board of Trustees Chairman Adolphus Wabara.
