As gale of defection continues to rock the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, fresh plots to dump the party by 40 members of the House of Representatives and 2 sitting governors has been revealed by Hon. Ugochinyere Ikenga Imo.

Ugochinyere who is the official mouthpiece of the coalition lawmakers in the House of Representatives sound a warning on Friday during a live broadcast that if the National Working Committee, NWC does not take urgent steps to save the party by rectifying the removal of the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum and replace him with a candidate from the Northcentral and expel the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, from the party, the PDP would’ve begun in few weeks to come.

The lawmaker who represents Ideato federal constituency of Imo State, urged the PDP National Working Committee, NWC, to urgently take steps towards addressing the imminent danger.

He said the founding fathers of PDP will cry if they were to be alive to see the pitiable condition of the Peoples Democratic Party today.
He said: “If all the founding fathers of PDP were alive today, seeing what is happening, they would be crying over how the once biggest opposition in Africa has been turned into a political dog that barks without biting.

“It’s very important to start on this note that those days we are so scared that what will come is now here with us, as it has to do with your position and the PDP.

“We cried, we fought, we begged the PDP leaders to stand up and rescue the party. That you have an impostor in the person of Umar Damagun, and a treacherous political human being in the person of Samuel Anyanwu.

“PDP governors played with this, PDP stakeholders played with this, we said if the right thing is not done that this party will disintegrate before our own eyes.

“If Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Lar, Adamu Chiroma and all the founding fathers of this party if all of them are alive today, seeing what is happening, they would be crying at how the once biggest opposition in Africa has been turned into a political dog that barks without biting.

“The threat that these men portend, who warned of the consequences today. Look at the state of our party, our governors are jumping ship. Our lawmakers are jumping ship.

“Our senators are jumping ship. Our members are jumping ship in different parts of the country. But come to think about it. We blame outsiders or those who have decided to work with the APC, but what about ourselves, our governors?

“What did the governors do categorically to resolve this problem? When I was removed, the right thing to do was to convene an NEC meeting and find a replacement from North Central.

“When the time for the NEC comes our governors will say, “it is Salah Muslim people are traveling, let’s shift it. When they come back they say it is Easter. “When they come back again they say it is Christmas.

“When they come back again, they say it is a public holiday. Is this not shameful behaviour? For two years, the leaders of this party could not find a solution to the problem.

“For two good years, because they have decided to sabotage the same platform that gave them whatever they have today. For two good years, Damagun stayed with Anyanwu to carry out a very simple task, which was to decimate the party.

“I listened and I saw Damagun say our fate is in God’s hands. That is rubbish and an arrant nonsense statement. “Damagun, why are you bringing God into this? How can our fate be in God’s hands? Where was God when you allowed a NEC meeting for North Central to appoint an acting replacement?

“Where was God when you kept on shifting it? Where was God when you filed a matter in court against our own PDP in support of those lawmakers who defected from PDP to APC in Rivers state, which led us to the crisis of emergency today in Rivers?

“Where was God when you decided to give party structures to members of the APC? Where was God when you decided to keep on supporting the likes of Danobi and all those other treacherous elements that were hell-bent on destroying the party?

“You now talk about our fate being in God’s hands. But you permitted Wike to join the APC government while remaining in the PDP.

“You’re the one that is encouraging them both in depth and everywhere to the camp, and you open your mouth and say our fate is in God’s hands, and you’re still sitting in a position that you have no legal right to be sitting. You’re a very wicked man.”

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Niger State, Hon. Binta Mamman has clarified that the governor’s order on cutting of dreadlock was targeted at a group of emerging gangsters responsible for insecurity in Minna, capital of Niger State.

In a statement she made available to journalists on Friday, the Commissioner said they are youths with dreadlocks who are identified by a particular hairstyle pattern linked to rising insecurity in Minna.

This group of individuals are the target of the Governor’s order and when seen they should be arrested and the reason is to dismantle the formation and spread of emerging groups before they become deeply rooted in the state.
Mamman said, “Niger State Government has on Friday reiterated its position to clamp down on nefarious youths groups with distinct hairstyles causing mayhem in parts of Minna, the State Capital.

“In a statement signed by the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Binta Mamman, the Farmer Governor Umaru Mohammed Bago’s executive order still stands; however, it will only affect those who wear dreadlocks in front while the back of their heads is shaved.

“It should be noted that Governor Bago had given a marching order to security agencies that henceforth any youth who carries dreadlocks be arrested and his hair barbed.”

The commissioner added, “This is not a blanket criminalisation of hairstyles but a preventive measure informed by intelligence and ongoing trends. The aim is to dismantle the formation and spread of these emerging groups before they become deeply rooted in the state.

“The government has observed a disturbing trend among some youth groups where a distinct hairstyle that appears to be evolving into a form of group identity or cultism.

“The defaulters that will be arrested are those who wear certain dreadlocks in front while the back of their heads are shaved. The security agencies know them because they walk in droves.

“With intelligence reports, this particular dreadlocks style has increasingly become associated with members of these groups.”

The commissioner reiterated that the curfew imposed by Bago was not intended to cause any sort of hardship, saying the dusk-to-dawn curfew was not applicable to everyone but motorcycle riders and tricycle operators.

“The government fully understands the temporary measure this decision may pose to Nigerlites and hardworking Nigerians who go about their legitimate businesses,” she said.

She further reassured Nigerlites that the government is taking proactive measures to address the growing insecurity that has affected parts of the state capital in recent days.

She said, “Governor Bago is concerned about the safety of lives and property and that it remains the topmost priority of his administration.

“It is saddening to see that for some time now, we have experienced maiming, and violent attacks, with several lives lost to attacks by these miscreants who operate at will, brandishing various dangerous weapons in a manner akin to cult groups.

“I tell you without mincing words that these groups are young boys who are between the ages of 13 and 22 and they exploited the ease of movement provided by motorcycles and tricycles to commit crimes across various parts of Minna and evade arrest.

“If these boys are not restricted, they can carry out criminal activities in one part of town and vanish into another within minutes. Their swift mobility not only makes arrests difficult but also enables the rapid spread of their operations.