The party leadership has instructed its Legal Adviser to recover mandates from defectors in Delta State, as Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum warns that “the fortune of this party cannot be just left in the hands of our adversaries.
The Peoples Democratic Party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and Governors Forum will hold a strategic meeting on May 11 to address the wave of defections and other challenges facing the opposition party, according to a report on The PUNCH website.
A senior NWC member, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that the meeting would focus on strategies to prevent further defections, resolve the National Secretary position dispute, and discuss other pressing matters affecting the party.
This development comes as the PDP instructed its Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade SAN, to take legal action regarding the recent defection of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, and other elected officials to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on April 23.
“After reviewing all the circumstances surrounding the defections of Okowa and the Delta State Governor, we concluded that their actions were motivated by personal interests,” the NWC source stated. “The party leadership has treated them fairly, so their defection came as a surprise.”
The source added that the May 11 meeting would be crucial in determining the party’s future direction, noting that the National Secretary issue remains contentious despite the Supreme Court ruling favoring Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum, addressing journalists after the 600th NWC meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, emphasized the party’s resilience. “I want to ask our teeming supporters to support the party. We may have our issues. But, the beauty of this party is that it has always resolved its crisis,” he said.
Damagum confirmed legal action to recover the party’s mandates in Delta State: “The fortune of this party cannot be just left in the hands of our adversaries, so we will take legal action to retrieve those mandates.”
The NWC has reportedly endorsed recommendations from the PDP Governors Forum, including appointing Deputy National Secretary Architect Setonji Koshoedo to a key position and holding an early National Elective Convention in August. These recommendations will be forwarded to the National Executive Committee meeting scheduled for May 27.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has refuted claims by Okowa that he plans to exit the PDP. Okowa, who was Atiku’s running mate in the 2023 presidential election, suggested during an Arise News interview that Atiku was “heading out of the PDP.”
Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, firmly denied these claims: “We have said this in the past, but I will say it again: Atiku is not on his way out of the PDP. Atiku bears no grudges against Okowa or any other member of the party.”
In his defense of defecting, Okowa cited the challenges of governing Delta as an opposition state. “We have continued – I was governor in opposition for eight years. And I know that though we tried to do our best in the state, we could not lay our hands on a lot of things that would have been able to benefit at the federal level,” he explained.
The PDP has established a Caretaker Committee, under Chief Emmanuel Ogidi’s leadership, to restructure the party in Delta State following the high-profile defections.