By Olugbenga Salami

Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro, has said that the survival of the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ambassador Umar Damagum at the just held National Executive Committee, NEC meeting of the party was not a victory or defeat for anybody, but a decision that was unanimously agreed on by the relevant stakeholders for the party to forge ahead.

Reacting to what he described as rumour in some quarters that Damagum’s survival, against call for his resignation, was victory for the former Rivers State governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, and a defeat for PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Senator Moro said the activities and in activities of the PDP should not be translated to the duo.

In a statement issued by his Media Adviser Emmanuel John and circulated on Sunday in Abuja, the Senate Minority Leader insisted that the whole issue was not about victory or defeat for anybody but about PDP; about providing an alternative formidable platform for Nigerians to look up to.

“We cannot translate the entirety of PDP’s activities and in activities to Wike and Atiku, out of millions of other members of the party across the country who also have their own thinking and reasons for being in the party. The whole issue was not about Wike or Atiku, or victory for Wike or defeat for Atiku, the issue was existential.

“We came together and reasoned together, that in the present scenario where Nigerians are hurting due to the maladministration of the APC government, what do we do to provide an alternative platform for Nigerians to look up to? In that circumstances, we decided to thread with caution so that we don’t throw away the baby with the bath water,” he stated.

On why the national caucus of the party allowed Wike into their meeting, the lawmaker, who represents Benue South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, said the minister couldn’t have been stopped from the meeting since he has not been found guilty of any crime and penalized by the party.

He said if the party’s disciplinary committee, headed by the former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki found Wike guilty of the alleged anti-party activities and have him sanctioned, he will stop attending the party’s meetings.

“The constitution of our party is very clear on who is a member and who is not a member of the caucus of the party and I dare say, at this point, that as a former governor who is still a member of the party, Nyesom Wike is a member of the National Caucus of the party.

“If actions had been taken immediately after the elections and people who are perceived to have acted contrary to the desires and yearnings of the PDP have been sanctioned, then we can say that having been expelled or suspended, you can’t be here, but as it is, non of such actions has been taken, so you can’t just ban people from attending meetings”, he added.