The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last year’s election Atiku Abubakar; his running mate Ifeanyi Okowa; FCT Minister Nyesom Wike; Rivers State Governor Siminalaye Fubara are among the dignitaries attending the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
The gathering holding at the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja is the 98th NEC and the first time all PDP leaders will be attending the party’s meeting since the 2023 election.
The choice of Atiku as the presidential candidate of the PDP tore the party in two, with Wike and some other then-serving governors forming a G-5 movement, insisting then that power must shift to the South, and significantly withdrawing their support for Atiku.
The poor performance of the PDP at the polls also led to some internal wrangling that climaxed in the ousting of the PDP national chairman Iyorchia Ayu.
That division has continued to hunt the party, one year after the 2023 general election.
Recently, some members of the PDP called for the resignation of the party’s acting National Chairman Umar Damagum.
The call for the sack of the Damagum-led NWC is the latest in the leadership crisis rocking the PDP and it appears to be dividing the party again.
While the PDP national caucus at their meeting on Wednesday wanted the Damagum-led exco to continue, the board of trustees urged the party to do the needful by getting someone from the North-Central Zone to complete the tenure of the ousted Ayu.
The BOT urged the party to decide on the chairmanship and the national secretary positions of the party which it says has caused some disaffection within the PDP.
At the opening of the 98 NEC meeting, Damagun expressed hope that the decisions that will be taken will strengthen the party.
On his part, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Adolphus Wabara noted that there is an urgent need for reconciliation
He called on the NEC to take on the crucial role of the crisis that has engulfed the party.
