The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has directed the North Central Zonal Caucus of the party to submit a nomination for the position of National Chairman for approval by the National Executive Committee (NEC).
In a communiqué issued after its emergency meeting in Abuja, the BoT asked the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, to revert to his position as Deputy National Chairman of the PDP to pave the way for the emergence of a substantive chairman from the North Central zone.
The communiqué, read by the chairman of the PDP’s BoT, Senator Adolphus Wabara, stated: “The BoT calls on the leaders of the North Central Zone to immediately convene a meeting of North Central stakeholders with a view to nominating a replacement for former National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
“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.”
Meanwhile, a former National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, has commended the BoT for seeking the immediate nomination of a person from the North Central Zone to fill the position of the party’s National Chairman.
He described the decision as “timely, patriotic, and commendable.”
“The decision reached at the meeting of the BoT mandating the North Central geo-political zone of the party to nominate a replacement for Senator Iyorchia Ayu is timely, patriotic, and commendable.
“The decision is in consonance with the demand of the North Central Zone, which has consistently agitated that the Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Ilyasu Damagum, reverts to his elected position as Deputy National Chairman and allows the North Central to produce a successor.
“This bold and courageous decision of the BoT must be commended by the rank and file of the party,” Ologbondiyan said.