Senator Dino Melaye has thrown a jibe at the suspended acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Umar Damagum over the crisis in the party.
In the early hours of Friday, the PDP national working committee led by Mr Damagum suspended the party’s national legal adviser Kamaldeen Ajibade and national publicity secretary Debo Ologunagba for alleged anti-party activities.
Shortly after, another faction of the NWC known as integrity group, through a statement from Mr Ologunagba, announced the suspension of Damagum and national secretary Sam Anyanwu for similar reasons.
Ologunagba, representing the integrity group, announced the appointment of Yayari Mohammed as acting national chairman.
Ologunagba stated that Mohammed’s appointment takes effect immediately and is in line with the PDP’s amended constitution from 2017.
The statement said, “Following the suspension of His Excellency, Ambassador Illiya Damagum as the Acting National Chairman of our great Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the National Working Committee (NWC) has approved the appointment of Alhaji Yayari Ahmed Mohammed as the Acting National Chairman.
“The appointment which takes immediate effect is pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017)
“The NWC calls on all Organs, leaders, critical stakeholder,s and members of our great Party to remain focused at this critical time especially as the NWC commences arrangements towards the holding of the Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting already scheduled for Thursday, 24th October, 2024.”
Prior to this, a court issued an order for Damagum not to be sacked.
On Saturday, Melaye, who is part of the integrity group, mocked Damagum on social media, saying the party complied with the court’s order.
“In compliance with the court order, not to sack Damagun, he has been suspended and not sacked. We have obeyed the court order because pdp is a law-abiding party. The suspension will aid the resolution of the crisis in our party,” he wrote.
