Former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye has said Umaru Damagumu was not sacked but suspended from his post as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Recall that the faction of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) suspended Mr. Damagum and the party’s national secretary, Mr. Samuel Anyanwu.
Later, another faction, NWC, also suspended the party’s National Public Relations Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, and National Legal Adviser, Kamaluddin Ajibade.
This development further fueled the crisis rocking the opposition party.
On Saturday morning, Melayi said in a post through his X handle that the party had decided to abide by the court’s ban on the PDP’s removal of Damagum.
“Following the court order not to dismiss Mr. Damagum, he has been suspended rather than fired. PDP is a law-abiding political party, so we complied with the court order. The suspension is a crisis for our party. It will help solve the problem,” Melaye wrote to X.
Naija News previously reported that Justice Peter Riff of the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled on Friday that Umaru Damagumu remains the legitimate national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and can only be removed through the national convention. It was reported that.
The decision followed a suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2024 filed by Senator Umaru Maina against the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP, among others. .
Maina, who is the Yobe State PDP chairman, alleged that some members of the party are planning a secret meeting to forcibly oust Damagum, which he claimed is in violation of the PDP constitution.
He further claimed that plans are afoot to replace Mr. Damagum with former Kogi State Deputy Governor, Mr. Philip Salau.
According to Maina, he has written to the PDP National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, to formally express his concerns over these covert efforts.
However, he said that despite acknowledging his letters, the Secretary of State and the BoT did not act on them.
Mr. Maina, through his lawyer Mr. Joshua Musa (SAN), will invoke Articles 45, 47 and 67 of the PDP Constitution to thwart any attempt to replace Mr. Damagum without due process. I petitioned the court to do so.
He stressed that the party’s leadership should serve alternately in the northern and southern regions, as stipulated in the party constitution.
Justice Riff, who reviewed the PDP constitution, averred that Damagum could only be removed by a national convention or by judicial order.
