Press Statement: Earlier today, mischievous stories broke on the social media to the effect that the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, has been “suspended over allegations of misappropriation.”
The stories further add that the Deputy National Chairman (North), Amb. Umar Damagun, has been appointed in his place in acting capacity. This is supposed to have followed a phantom emergency meeting of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC).
Even though we do not wish to dignify falsehood with a response, an official reaction is necessary in order to stem the tide of misinformation.
We, therefore, state as follows:
- Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP National Chairman remains the PDP National Chairman.
- Dr. Ayu took a well-deserved, two-week leave on 21st June, 2022. He will be back next week to resume duties, specifically on July 6, 2022.
- A stickler for due process, Dr. Ayu formally handed over to the Deputy National Chairman (North), Amb. Umar Damagun.
- And the Deputy National Chairman has held forth admirably since that day.
It was in that acting capacity that he (Damagun) today, presided over the inauguration of the Osun State Gubernatorial Campaign Council, headed by the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, H.E. Douye Diri.
- If not that the authors of the mischievous and baseless Facebook posts were out to serve nefarious interests, they would have heard when the acting national chairman, Amb. Damagun, said during the ceremony today: “On behalf of my able National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, I hereby inaugurate you.”
- The general public is, therefore, advised to ignore the mischievous social media publications as they are purely the work of mischief makers and idle minds.
Simon Imobo-Tswam
SA to the National Chairman on Communication and Strategy.
