By Ummi Ismaeel,
Minna
The leadership crisis rocking the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State has remained unabated.
One of the people at the centre of the crisis, Alhaji Umar Garba Chiza, said he remained in control of the party and only the National Secretariat of the party can say otherwise.
Chiza said the meeting at the instance of some aggrieved members of the party in the state which was presided over by Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State in Abuja to broker peace was the governor’s personal efforts hence decisions taken were not binding on him.
Chiza was addressing journalists in Minna over what he termed, “Erroneous impression’’ about the meeting between him, some aggrieved members of the PDP in Niger state, presided over by Governor Ortom at Benue State Government Lodge in Abuja.
Chiza said that the governor only intervened and people should not be misled to believe that he had been sacked.
Chiza said he was not taking what transpired therein as the position of the PDP national secretariat insisting, “The meeting in Abuja, though one-sided, was a mediatory, it was to discuss with the parties and make suggestions on the way forward. Invitation to the meeting was at the instance of the complainant”.
Neither the convener of the meeting or the North-Central zonal chairman of the PDP has any executive power to dissolve Niger Acting PDP executive that was constituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, Chiza pointed out as he called on party members in Niger State to disregard the misinformation by the group seeking for their removal.
Discussions during the meeting in Abuja which was chaired by the Benue State governor was not peculiar to Niger alone but; Plateau, Benue and Nasarawa states as he wondered why some people were taking the advice from the governor to mean that the Governor has powers to dissolve PDP executive in the affected states, including Niger state.
While calling for caution on the activities of some aggrieved PDP members in Niger State, Chiza said, “Anyone or group who has gone on air with any other information beyond the mere suggestion given by the convener of the meeting has only acted his/her own script as expression (s) of their inordinate mindset”.
Chiza who expressed surprise that those who know the working of the party were being misled to champion its destruction, said that the PDP Caretaker Committee in the state remained committed to discharging its responsibilities as mandated to it.
“The Caretaker Committee was set up pursuant to sections 29 (2) (b) and 31 (2) (e) of the PDP constitution as amended in 2017”.
Chiza said that the Caretaker Committee, which he stands as chairman, was appointed by the PDP National Executive Committee and only the NEC has the powers to dissolve it and therefore reminding all those behind the crisis that, “For the avoidance of doubts and to assuage any fears and suspicion, the Caretaker Committee is to only supervise the election strictly under the 2010 Electoral Act as contained in PDP’s constitution.”