Two Lay Claim to PDP Chairmanship in Plateau

Efforts by the Peoples Democratic Party’s national secretariat to foster peace in the Plateau State chapter of the party on Monday suffered a setback, following a fresh crisis that hit the party with two chieftains, Mr Chris Hassan and Mr Amos Gombi, laying claim to the chairmanship position.

Our correspondent learnt that the fresh crisis started when some members of the party’s executive committee ratified Hassan’s nomination as the new state chairman of the party during an emergency meeting held at the party’s secretariat in Jos on Monday.

Until his nomination as the state chairman, Hassan, who is a former Commissioner for Works in the state, was the chairman of the party in the North.

His emergence as the state chairman came when Gombi, who took over the affairs of the party as acting chairman as directed by the PDP’s National Working Committee, was said to be away in Port Harcourt where he attended the wedding of one of the children of the party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus.

The Plateau Central Chairman of the PDP, Mr Benedict Shignuhul, told our correspondent in Jos on Monday that Gombi was removed by the party’s executive committee because his emergence as the acting chairman was in violation of the party’s constitution.

Shignuhul said, “Yes, we have just ratified the nomination of Mr Chris Hassan as the substantive state chairman of the PDP in Plateau State during our SEC meeting which held today (Monday) at the party’s secretariat in Jos.

“Gombi has been parading himself as the state acting chairman, using a letter purportedly from the PDP’s national secretariat, which we cannot verify.

“So, with this development, he has ceased to function in that capacity and he will revert to his former position as deputy chairman of the party.

“This is in line with Section 47(6) of the PDP constitution, which states that where a vacancy occurs in any of the offices of the party, the executive committee at the appropriate level shall appoint another person from the area or zone where the officer originated from to serve out the tenure of the officer.”.

Gombi, who assumed the position of the party’s acting chairman after the resignation of the former Minister of Sports, Mr Damishi Sango, had earlier issued a statement directing party stakeholders not to attend the meeting of the party’s executive council called by the state secretary, Mr Emmanuel Tuang.

He insisted that such a meeting was illegal without his authorisation as the acting chairman.

It was learnt that majority of the state working committee members of the party, who were opposed to his leadership, ignored the call to boycott the SEC meeting where he was eventually removed.

However, Gombi who returned from his journey told journalists in Jos on Monday the he remained the acting chairman of the party, while condemning the action of the SEC members

He said “Nobody can sack me. Chris Hassan has been too desperate to be a chairman. How does he think he would get it through a coup against members of the chapter?”

“I was directed to assume the office by the national office via an official letter. I gave the letter to the secretary so that I can release it to SEC, but I had to travel.

“From the content of the letter, I am to resume office as the acting chairman of the chapter. If I call a meeting and they had cause to present me with a nominee, I know the right thing to do. But what they just did is unfortuna