Crisis thickens in the Rivers State branch of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), following a letter by the acting National Chairman of the PDP, Ambassador Umar Damaged, disowning the party’s National Legal Adviser, Mr. Kamaldeen Ajibade, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in a suit.
Damagum and the PDP National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, had in an August 16, 2024 letter to the Deputy Chief Registrar, Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt, said the party “did not authorise the filing” of a Notice of Discontinuance on July 24 in respect of a case involving the party at the Appeal Court.
The appeal with No CA/PH/307/2024 is principally against 27 members of the State House of Assembly who, on the 11th of December, 2023, defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Addressing reporters last night in Abuja, some PDP members of the House of Representatives from the state accused Damagum and Anyanwu of plotting to sabotage the party in the ongoing legal tussle involving the state lawmakers loyal to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.
They said the letter by Damagum and Anyanwu “represents a blatant disregard for the constitutional authority of the PDP National Legal Adviser and a clear attempt to undermine the interests of the PDP.
The Reps led by Hon. Ikenga Ugochiyere alleged that Damagun and Anyanwu were plotting to hand over the party to the APC in Rivers state with a view to impeaching Governor Siminalayi Fubara state governor.
The lawmakers accused the two party leaders of a covert plot to sabotage PDP’s interests in an ongoing legal battle involving defected former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly which they say is part of a desperate and shameful effort to betray their own party, destroy all legal efforts and aid the pro-Wike APC elements to have the legal backing to attempt their impossible plot of removing the PDP government led by Governor Fubara out of office.
Ugochinyere called for immediate action, including reaffirming the authority of the National Legal Adviser, taking legal steps to restrain the National Chairman and Secretary from further interference, and convening a disciplinary committee to investigate their actions.
They claimed that the alleged plot, if successful, could lead to the destruction of the PDP “as we know it, and this is something we cannot and will not allow to happen.