Barring last-minute modifications, the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, could also be heading for a showdown because the occasion’s National Working Committee meets on Wednesday.
Governance in Rivers State has been partially affected for months because of the ongoing political battle between Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara, each of whom are PDP members.
The feud has prompted a cut up throughout the state House of Assembly, with a faction led by Martin Amaewhule supporting Wike, whereas the opposite faction, led by Victor Oko-Jumbo, is loyal to Fubara.
Despite efforts by President Bola Tinubu and different outstanding figures in Rivers State and throughout the nation to mediate, the battle persists, with the factions participating in a number of authorized disputes in Port Harcourt and Abuja courts.
The PUNCH reported that regardless of a court docket injunction stopping the PDP from holding congresses in Rivers State, the Amb Umar Damagum-led NWC carried out the congress which handed management of the Rivers State occasion construction to Wike.
In an open letter addressed to the occasion management, former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South chief, Chief Edwin Clark, accused Wike of utilizing his shut relationship with Tinubu to mount undue strain on Fubara and the PDP.
The PDP governors additionally expressed help for Fubara, urging the occasion’s NWC to grant him his “rightful” place because the chief of the occasion within the state.
In response, Wike, on the PDP secretariat in Port Harcourt, stated he would take decisive motion in PDP-controlled states.
“Let me guarantee all of you, not whereas we reside will anyone take away the construction of the PDP from us. But let me inform individuals, I hear some governors who say they are going to take over the construction and provides it again to any individual.
“I pity those governors because I will put fire in their states. When God has given you peace, you say you don’t want peace – anything you see you take.”
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When contacted, the Director General of the PDP Governors Forum, Emmanuel Agbo, said {that a} assembly to handle Wike’s menace was imminent.
“He addressed the governors specifically. The governors will meet and they will take a position. The Secretariat is to convey their (Governors) positions. Until that is done, I don’t have any take on it,” he stated.
When questioned about when the governors would convene, Agbo responded: “Once I get a confirmation, I will let the press know.”
Similarly, the NWC assembly is about to happen on Wednesday (tomorrow) at Wadata Plaza, the PDP nationwide headquarters in Abuja.
A senior NWC member who wished to stay nameless, as he’s not authorised to talk on the matter, indicated that the occasion leaders had been anticipated to evaluation and focus on the PDP recently-held ward and state congresses, and governors’ place on Rivers within the upcoming assembly.
“We anticipate that the PDP Governors will contact the NWC to convey their stance on Rivers State and their most well-liked strategy.
“If they do, this will be addressed at the NWC meeting. The meeting will also discuss the ongoing litigation involving the defected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly,” the supply volunteered.
Recall that the final PDP NWC assembly revealed a transparent division among the many members.
Damagum and a number of other others accepted the conduct of the Rivers congress in favour of Wike regardless of the court docket injunction, whereas the National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, and the National Financial Secretary, Daniel Woyegikuro, insisted that the proper process needs to be adopted within the curiosity of Fubara.
On July 8, 2024, the Rivers State High Court issued an ex parte order barring key state officers from participating with the defected lawmakers.
Unexpectedly, Wike’s attorneys appealed the order with out the occasion’s consent, together with that of the National Legal Adviser.
Although Ajibade tried to withdraw the attraction on July 24, a letter dated August 15 from Damagum and PDP National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, despatched to the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt clarified that the PDP was not concerned within the withdrawal.
“All these issues will be discussed,” the supply stated.
A member of the National Executive Committee and former PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said that the letter from Damagum and Anyanwu contradicting the National Legal Adviser gives ample grounds for the opposite NWC members to concern a vote of no confidence within the appearing nationwide chairman.
In an unique interview with The PUNCH on Monday, Ologbondiyan said that it was as much as the NWC to save lots of the PDP, including that Nigerians had been seeking to the occasion to rescue them from the maladministration of the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.
He said, “Yes, a vote of no confidence needs to be handed in Damagum. The NWC has greater than sufficient capability; what warranted that call was the truth that Damagum, appearing as nationwide chairman, and nationwide secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, wrote to the court docket and contradicted the National Legal Adviser.
“Look, it’s as much as the National Working Committee to make the choice, and the ball is of their court docket to deal with it as they deem match. But what we’re saying is that you simply can’t use the authority of your workplace to go in opposition to the National Legal Adviser in court docket.
“It was an aberration of norms. The constitution is clear on the role of the National Legal Adviser. What the national chairman and the national secretary did was a violation of the constitution. I do not foresee a situation in which nothing will be done, and I do not want to contemplate it.”
Another member of the National Executive Committee and the occasion’s National Deputy Legal Adviser, Okechukwu Osuoha, urged the NWC to deal with Fubara like different governors concerning occasion construction.
In an unique interview with The PUNCH on Monday, Osuoha said, “What is relevant is that the governor of the state is the chief of the occasion within the state.
“The construction of the occasion is anchored on the state governor. Therefore, the NWC ought to apply what occurred in different states to Rivers.
“In other states where the PDP has a governor, the structure of the party revolves around the governor. So whatever has been done in other states should be reciprocated in Rivers. After all, all states in Nigeria are equal, and they must consider the important role Rivers State plays in Nigeria. We cannot afford to lose control of the state.”
Also commenting, the PDP Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, stated there needs to be no pretence or delay amongst Rivers State occasion stakeholders and the NWC in implementing the PDP governors’ place.
Osadolor, in an unique interview with The PUNCH, said, “And what’s extra essential is that an amicable decision to the Rivers imbroglio is achieved for the occasion’s curiosity.
“What I know is that there is no dispute as to who the leader of the party in Rivers is and that is Governor Sim Fubara.”
On Wike’s response to the PDP governors, Osadolor stated, “I feel the speech by ex-Governor Wike was very pointless and unsavoury.
“Wike’s assertion is unlucky. A person who needs to be busy apologising to the occasion or attempting to hunt reconciliation shouldn’t be grandstanding, throwing tantrums, and issuing threats to governors who’re preserving the occasion’s flag flying.
“So I think it’s high time the Governors’ Forum and the NWC sit down and take a position on leaders like Wike, no matter how highly placed or how much interest the person has. They need to address such leaders squarely and draw the line firmly and clearly.”
Osadolor, who known as on the occasion’s organs to reply appropriately to Wike, said that his ongoing assaults on the occasion would now not be tolerated.
“This is essential in order that sooner or later, we gained’t have some of these individuals taking part in bigger than life. The occasion is supreme and should act as a supreme entity. I consider that an enough response needs to be given to the menace he was making.
“As an officer of the occasion, I’d suppose that he has made one assertion too many. It’s time to inform him that, look, you’re both in otherwise you’re out.
“What that means is that if he wants to be in the party, he must play by and live by the rules. If he wants to be outside the party, let him be outside the party umbrella and throw his tantrums. But his move to remain in the party while undermining it will not be tolerated,” he stated.
On Monday, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, instructed that Wike had been known as to seem earlier than the PDP disciplinary committee, led by Tom Ikimi, on account of his involvement in anti-party actions in the course of the 2023 elections.
Abdullahi, whereas showing on Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, stated “Three weeks in the past, we put up two committees in place, that of reconciliation and disciplinary, and Nyesom Wike is without doubt one of the individuals to face the disciplinary committee, which is headed by elder statesman, Chief Tom Ikimi.
“The disciplinary committee will look into problems with anti-party actions. We’ve been receiving petitions concerning anti-party actions or sabotaging the occasion all through the first, resulting in the place we at the moment are.
“These petitions in opposition to Wike and different occasion members have been aggregated and despatched to the committee.
“Some party members even felt that Wike shouldn’t have gotten to this level still as a member of the PDP and they have been writing to the leadership.”
When contacted, Ologunagba, who performed down any showdown within the forthcoming NWC assembly over Rivers matter, confirmed that different NEC members had been expressing their views in help of the Governors’ Forum.
On the potential showdown, Ologunagba said, “I don’t work on speculations. It could be untimely to imagine that can occur.
“People have been expressing their views, which align with what the PDP Governors stated in Taraba. That might be formally offered earlier than the NWC assembly, and the NWC will focus on and take applicable actions consistent with these advisories and in accordance with the occasion’s structure, which recognises the governor because the chief of the occasion.
“So we will wait for the matter to come before the NWC,” he added.
Ologunagba, whereas addressing a world press convention in Abuja, on Monday, confronted Wike, asserting that nobody was above the occasion.
He stated the Governors’ discussion board would resolve the Rivers disaster in response to the occasion’s tips.
“We consider, and I’ll say this, that the Governors’ Forum stays one of the crucial potent organs of this occasion. We recognise and salute their braveness and their contributions to the event of the occasion. We acknowledge their stabilising function and their reconciliatory efforts for the occasion.
“There is a connection between Nigerians and the PDP as a result of it’s known as the Peoples Democratic Party. It shouldn’t be a celebration of joiners, individuals who simply got here collectively for enterprise or particular functions. It was based on values, rules, and imaginative and prescient, that are nicely said.
“The Governors’ Forum is a physique with its rules, they usually tackle points like this as they come up, notably once they concern them. I respect the Governors’ Forum and consider they are going to tackle the matter.
“What we all know is that no one is above this occasion, and we should take that to coronary heart. It’s like justice: the wheel of justice grinds slowly however in the end grinds nicely.
“We urge our governors to do what is necessary to ensure stability in their states. The only way they can achieve stability is through performance. If you compare PDP governors with governors from other parties, you will find that PDP governors are oases of development,” he stated.