•Reverses Ortom’s Summons To Face Disciplinary Panel

THE National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by the acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, has reversed the suspension some party chieftains, including a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, and former president of the senate, Anyim Pius Anyim.

PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, March 30 in Abuja, said also upturned was the suspension of others, such as a former governor of Katsina State , Ibrahim Shema; Benue State chieftain, Dennis Ityavyar, and Aslam Aliyu of Zamfara State.

In a related development, the Benue State Working Committee of the party, on the same day, suspended the executive in the Igyorov Ward of the Gboko Local Council.

Ahead of the February 25 presidential/national assembly elections, five PDP governors, Nyesom Wike (Rivers); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia); Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), known as G-5, insisted that the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, must resign from his position to pave the way for a southerner to replace him, following the emergence of former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, as its presidential candidate.

Following Ayu and Atiku’s rejection of the proposal, the five governors withdrew their support for the party’s candidate in the February 25 election, which it lost, after failing in Rivers, Oyo, Enugu, Abia and Benue states during the election.

But the party’s NWC, led by Ayu, on March 23, hit back at the chieftains on the basis of anti-party activities.

PDP, in a statement by Ologunagba announcing the punitive action, also directed  Ortom to appear before its disciplinary committee.

Fayose, in his reaction, dismissed the suspension, saying Ayu’s days as the national chairman were numbered.

Fayose, in a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, described the suspension as “the last kick of a dead horse,” adding: “Ayu and his cohorts are only entertaining themselves with the purported suspension as their latest comedy skit.”

Fayose said he and others who stood by the party when Ayu and his supporters left it to die would rescue the PDP and give life back in due course, insisting “the purported suspension will have no leg to stand.”

Ortom, on his part, said it was contemptuous of the party’s leadership to disregard the court order barring it or any of its organ from issuing any disciplinary measure against him.

The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur, said: “I think the national leadership of our great party is losing its sense of direction. Instead of the leadership sitting back and thinking of ways to rebuild the party from the ruins of the defeat from the just-concluded elections, they are going about chasing imaginary shadows.

“In any case, the first person the party should refer to the disciplinary committee should be Ayu, who lost his polling unit, lost his ward, local government and even the state.”

Wike, on his part, stated: “Ayu and Sam Anyanwu, the National Secretary, and other members of the NWC cannot suspend Fayose, not to talk of referring governor Ortom to a national disciplinary committee.”

Three days afterwards, the PDP executive in Ayu’s Igyorov Ward, on Sunday, March 26, him as a member over alleged  anti-party activities and failure to pay his dues.

The crisis took a new turn on Monday, March 27 when a Benue State High Court restrained Ayu from parading himself as the national chairman of the party, following a suit filed by a former aide to Ortom, Conrad Utaan.

As a result, the party on Tuesday, March 28, announced the appointment of Deputy National Chairman (North), Umar Damagum, as the acting national chairman, after Ayu stepped aside from the position.

In a further twist to the crisis, the Damagum-led NWC, on Thursday, March 30, reversed the suspension of the party chieftains at its first meeting in the interest of peace and reconciliation.

Ologunagba, in a statement, said: “The NWC recognised the imperativeness of a total reconciliation among party leaders and critical stakeholders for a more cohesive party in the overall interest of our teeming members and Nigerians in general.

“Consequent upon the above, the NWC reverses the referral of  Ortom to the National Disciplinary Committee.

“The NWC in the same vein, reverses the suspension of Shema, Fayose, Anyim, Ityavyar and Aliyu.”

He stated that the decision was without prejudice to the powers of the NWC to take necessary disciplinary action against any member of the party at any time pursuant to the provisions of its constitution (as amended in 2017).

Ologunagba said the NWC charged all leaders, critical stakeholders and members across the country to be guided by the provisions of the PDP constitution (as amended in 2017) and the new spirit and necessity of reconciliation, unity and harmony in the party at this critical time.

The statement urged supporters to remain focused as it continues to take every necessary action “to recover the stolen mandate freely given by Nigerians to their party and presidential candidate, Atiku, on Saturday, February 25, 2023 at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”

On Wednesday, March 29, the party’s state Publicity Secretary, Bemgba Iortyom, in a statement in Makurdi, accused the former chairman of the state Internal Revenue Board, Terzungwe Atser, of threatening some of the Igyorov Ward executive members, who suspended Ayu.

The following day, the Benue State Working Committee suspended the executive committee in the Igyorov Ward in Gboko Local Council.

According to the acting state Chairman, Isaac Mffo, and other 12 state officials, in a signed document read by the chairman, the suspension was necessary to forestall violence that led to the suspension of Ayu.

Mffo noted that the suspension was for one month to allow for peace to be restored in the area, adding that the state working committee would take charge of the political affairs of the party in the Ward for the period.

“The executive committee of the PDP in the Igyorov Council Ward shall hand over all documents and other items in their possession belonging to the party to the state executive committee with immediate effect.

“The state working committee, shall during this period, administer the affairs of the party in Igyorov Council Ward in the best interest of the party, discipline, growth and success,” he stated.