PDP BoT: Shifting NEC meeting shows party may have been hijacked

The board of trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the continued shifting of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting is eroding members’ confidence.

In a communique issued in Abuja on Thursday after an emergency meeting, the BoT expressed concerns that the opposition party may have been hijacked by certain interests.

The national working committee (NWC) of the PDP, led by Umar Damagum, the acting national chairman, had postponed the NEC meeting twice in the last two months.

The meeting is now scheduled to be held in February 2025.

The NEC is the highest decision-making organ of the PDP, comprising state governors, serving and former presidents, former vice-presidents, the chairman and secretary of the board of trustees (BoT), principal officers of the national assembly, all state chairmen, members of the national working committee (NWC), former governors, and founding members, among others.

Section 31 (4) of the PDP constitution states that a NEC meeting must be held once in three months.

Reading the communique, Adolphus Wabara, chairman of the BoT, said the NWC should honour its words by holding the meeting in February.

“The BoT is deeply disappointed over the continued shifting by the NWC in convening a national executive committee (NEC) meeting,” Wabara said.

“This delay not only undermines the trust and confidence of our members but portrays our party as having been hijacked by certain interests.

“The BoT demands that the NWC should show leadership, honour its word, and convene the NEC meeting as scheduled in February 2025.

“This is critical for resolving pressing issues and charting a clear path forward for the party. Any further postponement will exacerbate existing challenges and may spell doom for our party.

“BoT calls on the PDP Governors’ Forum to be more united and work along with other organs of the party to resolve issues in the party expeditiously.”

Wabara said the BoT reaffirmed its stance that Damagum, the acting chairman of the party, should step aside to allow a member from the north-central geopolitical zone to assume the position and complete the tenure of Iyorchia Ayu, who was removed in March 2023.

He also called for unity in the party, saying the BoT will continue to reconcile aggrieved members.

“BoT calls on the PDP Governors’ Forum to be more united and work along with other organs of the party to resolve issues in the party expeditiously,” he said.

“To this end, the BoT will begin again to search for peace in the new year, starting with former governor Nyesom Wike, who the BoT had promised to visit again to seek lasting peace.”