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KEBBI, Nigeria- The acting chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Umar Damagum, has warned social media handlers and bloggers against peddling falsehoods capable of igniting unrest among party strata.
Damagum gave the charge at the end of a two-day capacity building on effective media awareness and peace in the political arena for social media handlers from North-West states, organised by the party’s support group held in Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday.
Represented by his senior special assistant on media and communications, Yusuf Dingyadi, Damagum urged participants to sustain the propagation of the party’s manifestos and vision.
While commending the organisers for the foresight, the party chairman assured supporters and loyalists that, “there is no vacancy in the party’s leadership positions.”
He condemned those aggravating internal differences within the party, especially interested groups that were more inclined to creating embers of hatred and division rather than progress, peace and unity in the PDP.
The chairman urged them to stop breeding disharmony and political instability capable of destroying the image of the party’s founding fathers’ vision.
Damagum reiterated that the present leadership would continue to tolerate and galvanise PDP into a party of forgiveness, cohesion and unity rather than injustice and propaganda.
This, according to him, will be achieved by carrying everybody along at all levels, saying, “I will not allow myself or any of the disciplined members into disreputable position of injustice.”
He called on the party elites and leaders across the country to strive hard in building a party of unity, discipline and progress, as against trying to destroy the good vision and political objectives of the founding fathers.
The chairman urged them not to become tools of character assassination of any individual or propagating falsehoods, hatred and mischief against each other, which were capable of destroying the party and its image.
”Overheating internal crises, leadership disharmony because of particular individual interest is akin to polluting the party’s unity, cohesion and progress which will destroy all the good things PDP stand for
”Our party’s organs, especially National Working Committee (NWC) under my command are much more interested in providing reasonable solutions to our survival in the leadership rather than settling our scores or differences with lies, malign and mischief which are capable of aggravating issues of disunity and hatred in our affairs,” he said.
Earlier, the head of media mobilisation and political awareness of the PDP Supporters Group in Nigeria, Dr Suleiman Aliyu-Gafai, said the workshop was organised to strengthen the capacity of social media handlers and streamline their activities toward party cohesion and unity in tandem with founding fathers’ dreams.
Aliyu-Gafai described the leadership crisis within the party today as a disappointment, which negated the founding fathers’ vision of building a platform for unity, cohesion and political development in Nigeria.
According to him, the recent statement of a certain group of people, especially the BOT chairman, Sen. Adolphus Wabara, on supporting party chairmanship from a particular zone was diversionary.
He added that such an act was a way of inciting disunity which was unwarranted and uncalled for, “lacking confidence in someone who is supposed to unite his children to achieve common goals.”
The party stalwart recalled that the party’s outstanding performance during the last 2023 general elections was always acknowledged as PDP’s Atiku garnered overwhelming votes from the region.
While assuring their support and loyalty to the leadership of the PDP under Damagum led NWC, Aliyu-Gafai enjoined social media handlers to sustain their efforts in propagating good party objectives, visions and manifestos.
The training, which dwelled on leadership and challenges in the digitisation was facilitated by the platform of Northern Professionals in Politics and Development (NOPDE).
Over 50 participants were drawn from Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states for the capacity building.
