By Bisi Ezekiel
Since taking charge as acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), with the court ruling ratifying the suspension of Dr. Iyorchia Ayu as chairman, the great task of taking up the party from the crunches fell on Ambassador Umar Ilya Damagum.
Before his initial appointment, he stayed in the shadow as the Deputy National Chairman, (North).
As a loyal party man, Ambassador Damagum sticks with Ayu throughout his troubled days in office. He resisted temptation and pressure from within the party to declare himself undisputable leader of the party .
However, he bowed to the supremacy of the party which pronounced him as acting National Chairman.
Before the authentication by the National Working Committee, (NWC), the party had been polarized by self-inflicted crisis, post-presidential primary election.
No thanks to the former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who was bittered by his huge loss in the race for PDP presidential ticket to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and more aggrieved for losing the vice presidential candidate slot to former governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, who succeeded in widening the gap of divisions in the party.
The party, however, suffered great setback with the defection of a few leaders after the 2023 general election, and apathy of some leaders to party matters.
Not daunted by these discouraging circumstances, Ambassador Damagum decided to knit together the fragmented pieces left behind.
He started by ensuring unity returned to the NWC, on which platform he commenced reaching out to other critical organs of the party. He visited party leaders in their states and tasked them with rebuilding PDP.
Through this effort, a critical organ of the party, the PDP Governors Forum, came back alive again after a sharp division created after the 2023 election.
Damagum unveiled his agenda of rebuilding the party and he got the support of his colleagues in the NWC and other leaders who saw the genuineness of his mission. Together, they started the process and today, the party that governed for 16 years from 1999 to 2015 is waxing stronger again.
The acting National Chairman is rallying every support he can muster in the party in giving hope that PDP will regain power through legal means at the ongoing Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, because of his firm belief that PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar won the February 28 presidential election.
So far, Damagum has exhibited his administrative dexterity. He is a party man and a political technocrat.
He is a man of strong political brevity, but he lives in the qualms of the average Nigerian, full of hope for his people’s advancement, development, independence and prosperity.
He has served the party in different capacities. He was the Financial Secretary of Yobe State PDP (1998-2000), Yobe State PDP Secretary, Director General, Yobe State Gubernatorial Campaign and Election (2011),
Chairman, Adamawa State PDP (Caretaker-2012), and Secretary of PDP National Reconciliation Committee (2013).
In 2019, he contested the gubernatorial election in Yobe state under the PDP, but lost to Mai Mala Buni of the All Progressives Congress, (APC).
Umar Iliya Damagum, also known as Jagoran Talakawan Jihar Yobe, was born in Damagum, Yobe State, on August 10, 1963 in Damagum, Yobe State’s Fune Local Government Area. He attended Damagum Central Primary School and the Government College in Maiduguri, where he earned his SSCE.
He attended the University of Maiduguri and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Arts Education. He also has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management and has a Masters degree in Business Administration from the same university.
A banker and financial expert, Iliya Damagum began his career as the Head of Banking Operations at Allied Bank Plc. He served on the boards of both Yobe State Investment and Yobe State Housing Corporation.
He was the Director of First Services Nigeria Ltd and the Managing Director and Chairman of Family Investment Nigeria Ltd from 1995 to 2004. He later joined the Nigerian Shippers Council.
Umar Iliya Damagum was the former Nigerian Ambassador to Romania, as well as the Financial Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Yobe State from 1998 to 2000. In 2013, he was also the secretary of the PDP National Reconciliation Committee.
Bisi wrote in from Abuja.
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