*Holds next meeting July 23
By Folorunso Alagbede, in Abuja
Members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rose from their 100th meeting on Monday in Abuja, reinstating Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the party.
The Monday’s NEC meeting, which was held after series of disagreements among members, also resolved that the next meeting will hold on July 23 this year.
The NEC meeting, which had Governors Bala Mohammed (Bauchi State), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara) Caleb Muftwang (Plateau), Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, former Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson and several other chieftains of the party in attendance, lasted for about two hours.
The acting National Chairman of the party, Ambassador Ilya Damagum, who spoke with journalists at the end of the meeting, stated that the party’s detractors, who thought that the NEC meeting would go off the course, had been put to shame.
According to Damagum, “I am here to brief you on the outcome of our interaction with NEC as regards the National Secretary.
“We’ve all combined in one, we were all together, and we all agree that Senator Anyanwu will continue to act as National Secretary.And also to bring the issue of the convention—to bring it up in the next NEC, which is slated for the 23rd of next month.
“At that time, we will be able to convene a proper NEC, where myself and Senator Anyanwu will sign, which is to fulfill the regulatory requirement of INEC in convening meetings.
“So, to our detractors who thought this meeting would go off course or perhaps be the end of the party—the beauty of the Peoples Democratic Party is that it is the only party in this country that has the right to convene a convention. That knows the mechanism to solve its own problems and run freely.
“As you can see, all our governors attended the meeting; all members of the NWC were on the same page.
You will not be seeing all these press releases and counter press releases, any more”, he said.
Earlier in his opening address at the meeting, Damagum had passionately appealed to members to
stop the arbitrary demarketing of the party.
He charged members of the party and all stakeholders to devote their energy to propagating the beauty of the leading opposition party.
Speaking on the outcome of the NEC meeting, Bauchi State Governor and Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, Senator Bala Mohammed said, “This is a miracle of the PDP, the party that has history, that has the pedigree and the human capital to deliver Nigeria.
‘We have been engrossed in controversies and challenges, not created by us, but created for us, and we have been navigating, unlike the other parties, irrespective of the manifestations and the perceptions there.
‘The news of people leaving the party are all cosmetic. They were all created to diminish us. But I must thank the leaders and all other organs of the party, especially the BoT, the caucuses of the National Assembly, and most important to my colleagues and the NWC, because everything we are doing, we are doing for the NWC today.
“I must tell the world that the NWC has collapsed all differences, all ranglings”, he said.
Also speaking after the meeting, the Chairman, Board of Trustees BoT of the PDP, Senator Adolphus Wabara stated that god of politics is behind the party.
His words, “We shall survive. The god of politics is in this party. Allah of politics is in this party.
“For anybody, any other party, to succeed, we have to release our God to bless them. But our God knows that PDP is the beacon of hope for this country.
“What is happening here today (Monday) will shock so many people. I’m sure they will start planning again to bring problems. NWCs don’t allow a crack anymore, because once they have, once they have seen us now coming together, they will say, why? What happened? Who is the native doctor?
“But they don’t believe in God. Where is the native doctor that made this possible? They will start doing something to destabilize us, which we will not agree.
‘So whatever we are doing here today (Monday) we are doing because of our service to this nation.
