Kogi PDP chairpersons ask Damagum to sack caretaker committee

Chairpersons of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 21 LGAs in Kogi have asked the party’s national leadership to sack the state’s caretaker committee led by Danjuma Laah, a former senator.

In March, the PDP set up the caretaker committee to run the party’s affairs for 90 days.

The call for the sack of the caretaker committee is contained in a letter dated July 29 and addressed to Umar Damagum, the national chairman of the PDP, by Abejirin Johnson, leader of the chairpersons.

In the letter, the LGAs’ chairperson said the congress organised in Kogi to elect ad hoc delegates was peaceful and followed party guidelines, contrary to the claim by the chairman and members of the committee.

“We dissociate and condemn outrightly the preposterous and mischievous statement issued by Senators Laah Danjuma and Philip Gyunka, Chairman and Secretary Caretaker Committee of Kogi state chapter of PDP,” the letter reads.

“The statement is total falsehood, misleading, misinforming, and determined to confuse party faithful and the NWC.

“Senators Danjuma and Gyunka, who know that the process was very credible and meets every requirement of ward election, only released the statement, having failed to please ‘their associates’ in manipulating the process.

“We observe that the caretaker chairman chose to address his petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a matter that is purely intra-party.

“This is curious! At the risk of restating the obvious, the power to superintendent over congresses lies with the national secretariat of the party and not the state caretaker committee.

“This singular act is capable of bringing the party to disrepute in the eyes of not only the electoral body to which the petition was addressed but the uninitiated public. This action of the caretaker chairman ought to be investigated and sanctioned appropriately.

“We hereby resolve that the caretaker committee led by Senator Laah Danjuma be dissolved with immediate effect in the overriding interest of the greater number of our party members across the state.”