By Suleiman Mustapha
The Peoples Democratic Party-Coalition, a pressure group made up of PDP professionals, Saturday, urged the Chief Tom Ikimi-led disciplinary committee to set an example with Senator Dino Melaye to serve as deterrent to party members engaged in anti-party activities.
The appeal was contained in a statement, in Abuja, signed by the coalition’s President, Engineer Abdulraheem Ilyasu Garba and Publicity Secretary Mr. Gabriel Segun Adekoya.
The coalition said that it has already put together a memorandum to the disciplinary committee recommending sanctions for the former Kogi State PDP candidate, alleging that his recent conduct and utterances have brought the party into disrepute.
The group said, “A Few days ago, Melaye whimsically launched a mischievous accusation against the trio of acting National Chairman, Ambassador Damagum, PDP Secretary, Sam Anyanwu, and National Organizing Secretary, Umar Bature, alleging grievous wrongdoing all because of their resolve to adhere to PDP constitution and INEC’s guidelines.
“His regular resort to theatrics, along with misinformation, mudslinging and innuendos on social media and in real life all singularly recommend Dino Melaye for proper disciplinary sanctions.
“As for the Kogi PDP congress which the three PDP officials stopped from being manipulated, thereby triggering bitterness as well as vicious social media attacks on Damagum, Anyanwu, and Bature; party chairmen in 19 out of 21 LGAs firmly backed the PDP NWC position on the ad hoc congress but Melaye who appears to have sensed defeat asked his few supporters to abandon the exercise while subsequent efforts to get the PDP NWC leaders to re-write what happened at the congress failed.”
Members of the coalition argued that “it was high time the party vigorously applied all fitting and proper sanctions that will serve as timely notice to others who may have a history of nurturing similar intentions for mischief within PDP.”
While emphasizing the need for the PDP Disciplinary Committee to take action, the group stressed that the former federal lawmaker,
“saw no cause to vilify PDP leadership in 2023 when they had to bend backwards on the ‘prodding and harassment’ of Atiku Abubakar to give him the governorship ticket – a situation that led to the defection of all but one of PDP’s governorship aspirants, and gale of defections in the party.’’
The coalition noted further that“ he (Melaye) did not call these party leaders ‘transactional and commercial’ when the process was skewed in his favour. ‘’
