Our group has risen to look into the recent meeting between Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state and a few members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), which was held on September 17, 2024.

While we acknowledge the advisory role of the past leadership of PDP Governors’ Forum to entrench peace and unity in PDP, we will reject the present insistence by the leader of the forum Senator Bala Mohammed who solely wants to impose and foist his incendiary approaches to create more divisions within the National Working Committee (NWC) and eventually work against the generality of the burgeoning PDP family.

We are not against a governor becoming a political leader in his state, but that should come through dedication and hardwork, and not through inheritance or imposition. It must be earned.

The leadership of the Northeast Youth Ambassadors has resolved to stand against any move from any quarters to further cause division in the PDP family. And we equally frown at the latest encampment of some NWC members to address and woo them, on behalf of other PDP governors, when other NWC members were on duty call to Borno State to show solidarity with the victims of flood and the people.

We strongly align and support the present leadership of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) as ably led by His Excellency, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun. The PDP NWC has just set up Reconciliation and Disciplinary committees. We’ll urge all and sundry in our dear political party-PDP that these committees should be allowed to work.

The continued pressure from external forces, the latest coming from Bala Mohammed, is beginning to cast a serious shadow of doubts and mistrust, which might dull the job and progress of the committees. Here, other members of the PDP Governors’ Forum must show concern and prevail on Governor Mohammed to show leadership and withdraw from taking sides within the PDP fold.
Both the governors and other stakeholders of the PDP should be equally carried along at all times. Even at the level of governors’ solidarity, other PDP members should matter.

To attend to party issues, we would want to urge the PDP family to apply the rule of law.The PDP has a constitution that expressly allows Ambassador Umar Damagun, from the North, to continue with the leadership of the National Working Committee (NWC) as the National Chairman upon confirmation by the NEC.

Thus far, this has a precedent, where Elder Yemi Akinwonmi ( from Southwest) had to serve out the tenure of Prince Uche Secondus. And this particular precedent is the newest in their succession. We will abide by it.

Our group will hope that the governors’ forum, though not an organ of the PDP, will continue to advise the party through mediation, diplomacy and not this compellence against elected party officers, as it’s being fashioned out now. We therefore appeal to other PDP Governors to address Governor Bala Mohammed. On no account should any PDP leader rock the boat.

The youths of the NorthEast, and by implication the entire Nigeria, would want to make it clear that the role of the PDP Governors’ Forum is to develop PDP states and work assiduously to entrench peace and unity in PDP family, and not to fan the embers of division. The governors are our leaders, and the National Working Committee has consistently supported them.

We would want to urge Governor Mohammed to either re-engineer the governors’ forum appropriately to focus on her core mandate, and steer it to align with the mission to build PDP through equity, justice and fairness or let him assign the burden of the leadership of the forum to another, who is willing to do so, to enable him focus on his presidential ambition.

We quite acknowledge the fact that anybody can aspire to become the president of his or her country, but not to the pleasure of pulling down others alongside the entire PDP house. Let people who wish to vye first show integrity, and step aside to pursue their presidential ambitions and not muddle up things by using a revered forum such as PDP Governors’ Forum to bulldoze their way. PDP should put aside this rising upsurge to drag governors’ forum by the forum’s leadership. It’s not sustainable.

The NorthEast Youth Ambassadors would want to make it abundantly clear that if Damagun’s leadership of PDP as National Chairman, and he coming from same NorthEast, conflicts with any personal interest, we must be sincere and see that development not Damagun’s making. It was Senator Iyorchia Ayu , from same North as Damagun , who resigned.
Therefore, from time to time, our group has resolved that we will be informing the PDP family and Nigerians the roles of different stakeholders in the party.

Going forward, we’ll spell out the main organs of the party properly. All stakeholders will have to know their limits in the party to further forestall recurring conflict of interests.The PDP Governors’ Forum is made up of governors with unflinching character and great integrity.They cannot be stampeded or harangued in any guise. We appeal to all PDP governors to see through this latest ploy to enlist the forum to achieve a personal ambition. Pitting different party organs against one another isn’t the best strategy to support PDP.
The PDP family will reject this move. It is polluted and unpopular.

*SIGNED*

Comrd Abdullahi Suleiman (Dan Kasa)
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National Coordinator

Comrd Gabriel Sunday
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National Secretary

*NORTHEAST YOUTH AMBASSADORS*