Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday declared that the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Umar Damagum, can’t direct the National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu to resume his duties at the party’s National Secretariat.

Wike said Anyanwu is not Damagum’s appointee, hence the acting PDP national chairman cannot direct him to resume his duties.

The minister spoke during the commissioning of the newly constructed interchange bridge of Arterial Road N20 (Wole Soyinka Way) over Outer Northern Expressway (Murtala Mohammed Expressway).

Wike said: “I watched on national television and heard when the Acting National Chairman of PDP was directing the National Secretary to resume.

“The National Secretary is not your appointee, he has been doing his work, so you can’t call him to resume because of the illegalities you perpetrate.

“You didn’t show leadership that is why you put yourself where you are. It’s nobody’s making because the National Secretary has been working and will continue to work, he doesn’t require anybody to direct him to resume his work.”

The minister also faulted the recent visit of PDP leaders including Damagum to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

He noted that Damagum’s ignorance and that of PDP leaders is not an excuse.

“If because of your ignorance of the law – too bad- the law does not recognize your ignorance. That you are ignorant of the law is not an excuse.

“I feel so bad when people can now move to INEC to direct them to obey Supreme Court judgment, it’s most unfortunate.

“A political party will now go and ask from INEC what should we do and INEC will direct them to obey Supreme Court judgment.

“You see, when you shoot yourself; you say it’s somebody that shot you. Continue to shoot yourself, I will not be a party to those that will shoot themselves.

“When you don’t know something, ask the right person – don’t because of ego, don’t because of monthly allocation, money does not solve all problems. If you want to learn come and meet us, we will teach you how to go about it.”

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has reinstated Samuel Anyanwu to his position as National Secretary.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Ambassador Iliya Damagum, the Acting National Chairman of the party, made the announcement.

Damagum, alongside Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, and other key stakeholders, said the decision to reinstate Anyanwu into the National Working Committee, NWC, was challenging, but ultimately accepted by a majority of party members, led by the party’s organs.

He also announced the cancellation of the planned NEC meeting, saying, “We will have an expanded Caucus, at the next Caucus we will take a decision leading to a proper NEC.

“Anyanwu is resuming as the National Secretary, that is why I said it was a critical decision. Like INEC said they don’t have our notice, so what we will have on June 30th is an extended Caucus.”

Details later…

The lawmaker representing Borno South South Senatorial District, Ali Ndume, has lamented what he called the diminishing role of the National Assembly.
This was as he alleged that the red chamber of the country’s National Assembly has become an approving institution offering unquestioned support to the executive.

Ndume stated this during an interview on Arise Television, expressing worry that the Senate is no longer fulfilling its duty as a deliberative chamber.

“It has become less democratic, and it is very unfortunate. If you look at what the National Assembly historically is built on, the Senate, particularly, is supposed to be a house of deliberation where people will deliberate on policies, actions and spending of government.

“We’re not doing that anymore; we’re now more of an approving institution, just giving necessary and unnecessary support to the executive.

“The division of executive, legislature and judiciary is no longer there; government, to an extent, now has been personalised and privatised,” he said.

The longest serving senator also said he was worried that as a senator, he is not abreast of events happening in the chamber.

When asked, Ndume described the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from ECOWAS as a major diplomatic failure, particularly for President Bola Tinubu, who recently handed over leadership of the bloc to President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone.

He suggested that the intervention of elder statesmen like Muhammadu Buhari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Yakubu Gowon, and Abdulsalami Abubakar might have helped prevent the exit of the three West African nations.