The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to retrieve the party’s mandates from the governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori and other elected office holders in the state who on Monday, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The PDP Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum declared this on Tuesday during a media briefing at the party’s Abuja national secretariat.
Damagum said the party had already instructed its National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, SAN, to initiate the legal process aimed at recovering the mandates.
It was a wholesale defection of Governor Oborevwori, his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa and all members of the Delta State House of Assembly who were elected in 2023 on the platform of the PDP.
Damagum, who spoke shortly after a marathon meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), bemoaned the defections, saying that the PDP did not offend the defectors in any way.
“They are using divisions in the party to justify their stupidity. But there is no division in the PDP. The NWC is intact as you can see,” the he said.
Accusing the APC administration of intimidating and coercing opposition figures into dumping their parties, the PDP chairman said the APC would face rejection by the Nigeria people in the 2027 election.
“The defections will not weigh us down. Rather, it should make us up our sleeves so that we come to the point that we wouldn’t need to reconcile against each other.
“They can coerce, they can cajole and intimidate our members into joining them. But they can only do that because they feel they have what it takes.
“When the time comes, they will receive the result from Nigerians. It has happened before, and it will repeat itself.
“The parameters that will make Nigerians revolt against them are all in place. This government has been so insensitive to the yearnings and feelings of the people.
“They have not shown any remorse. We are not a conquered people. We are taxpaying Nigerians, law-abiding citizens. And we have rights. And when the time comes, Nigerians will show them that they have rights.
“2027 is between Nigerians and the APC. So I want to urge our supporters to remain calm. Come 2027, Nigerians will speak,” Damagum said.
The chairman said the leadership had instructed the PDP zonal caretaker committee to take charge of what is left of the party’s structure in Delta State pending the election of a new set of executives at the state level.
The party leadership said it has adopted the decisions taken by the PDP Governors Forum in its last meeting in Ibadan regarding timelines for its national convention where a new set of NWC members will be elected. The convention is tentatively slated to hold in the last week in August.
Similarly, the party has agreed to hold its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on May 27, in line with the Governors’ recommendation.
Also, Damagum said the NWC has implemented the Governors’ recommendation on the position of the party’s National Secretary.
Recall that the Governors, at their Ibadan meeting, had rejected both Senator Samuel Anyanwu and Sunday Udeh-Okoye as National Secretary.
Instead, they had directed the party leadership to install the Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo as substantive National Secretary.
