Segun Babatunde Awofadeji, Bauchi
Amidst the leadership crisis rocking the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially the Acting National Chairman of the party, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun, a group in Bauchi state known as ‘Bauchi State PDP Coalition Youth Stakeholders’ has thrown its support and weight behind him.
The group led by Sagir A. Sardauna made the declaration while addressing Journalists in Bauchi Tuesday, stated that it will continue to endorse the leadership of Umar Damagun as the National Chairman of the PDP beyond the present.
According to the group , “We are behind him and hereby declare our total support for our great party’s Acting National Chairman, H.E Ambassador Umar Iliya Damugun.”
“Damugun has been a member of the PDP since 1998, and remain consistent and totally committed to the success of the party. it is on the record that Damugun supported the 2023 PDP Presidential candidate wholeheartedly before, during and after the primary elections against all other aspirants.”
It added that,”Damugun won Yobe state for PDP and for the first time in history, PDP won the state. All those who are shouting at Damugun now, lost their polling units, some even supported the Labour Party candidate while some supported APC candidates in their respective states.”
The group stressed that, “Same people who are attacking Damugum today, supported and lobbied for either Ministerial positions or other heads of government parastatals, under the present administration.”
The group further alleged that, “Some Governors submitted names, the PDP BoT Chairman has endorsed LPs Alex Otti for reelection in 2027, the Atiku’s loyalists supported APC candidates in Bauchi, Adamawa, Taraba, Rivers, Oyo and many other states during the last general elections.”
“It is on the record that Wike didn’t support Atiku, Asue in Edo, Dino in Kogi, Diri in Bayelsa, but Damugum supported them wholeheartedly, which they can attest to, that and the Chairman is supporting the Edo candidate right now in court,” The group added.
According to the group,”Some individuals with faded and zero political influence in their states are unfairly targeting Ambassador Umar Damugum, simply because he has shown that he is committed to the unity of the party and resisted those who wanted to destroy the party and move to merger or handing over the party to individuals for 2027 ambition. They are sponsoring propaganda against Damugum on pretext for antiparty.”
“Going forward, we will not allow any individual or group to attack the personality or disrespect our National Chairman, we will resist any attempt to remove him unconstitutionally. The recent Abuja Federal High court judgement must be respected,” The group declared. END
