Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has called out the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Umar Damagum, for ordering the National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, to resume duty at the party’s national secretariat.
He recently shared that Umar Damagum does not have the authority to issue such an order.
Recall that after a fierce battle over the position of PDP National Secretary between Anyanwu and Sunday Udeh-Okoye, the division eventually led to his suspension following repeated postponement of NEC meetings.
Speaking during the inauguration of the Arterial Road N20 interchange bridge in Abuja, Wike revealed that the national secretary is not Umar’s appointee, so he had no business getting involved.
According to him, Umar obviously ordered Samuel Anyanwu’s resumption for his own selfish reasons, and seeing the announcement on TV was unsettling.
“I watched on national television and heard the acting national chairman directing the national secretary to resume. The national secretary is not your appointee.
He has been doing his work and will continue to do so. You can’t ask him to resume because of the illegalities you’re perpetrating,” he said.
Wike alleged that Damagum displayed weak leadership with that decision, and PDP’s recent visit to the Independent National Electoral Commission was shameless and ignorant.
The Minister urged party leaders to seek guidance rather than acting out of ego and financial interest.
He concluded by saying that PDP going to INEC to seek clarity on what the party should do was an obvious ignorance of the law that will never be an excuse.
“A political party now goes to INEC asking what to do. If, because of your ignorance of the law, you went there, that’s unfortunate. The law doesn’t excuse ignorance.
Don’t let ego or monthly allocations mislead you. If you want to learn, come to us — we’ll teach you how to handle it,” he added.
