Three PDP chieftains cry foul over suspension from party in Nasarawa

Three Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains in Nasarawa State, Alhaji Bello Ramalan, Alhaji Mukhtar Mohammed and Mr Abdullahi Umar, have condemned their suspension from the party, describing it as unconstitutional.

Ramalan, a former Chief Whip of the state House of Assembly; Mohammed, a former Chairman of Keffi Local Government council and Umar, the party’s Organising Secretary in Keffi Council area, made their positions known at a news conference on Thursday in Keffi.

Ramalan described their suspension by the local government chapter of the party as uncalled for, unconstitutional, illegal, lacking substantive evidence.

The former lawmaker said that he and seven others suspended from the party had written a petition to the PDP national headquarters and copied all organs of the party for necessary action on the purported suspension.

“I have been unlawfully suspended with other party loyalists in Keffi on the ground that I sponsored thugs to embarrass PDP leaders during our zonal meeting early this year in Keffi.

“To my surprise, we have not been given fear hearing and neither was any formal letter transmitted to us on the alleged offence leading to our suspension,” he said.

Collaborating Ramalan, Mohammed stated that as major party stakeholders in Keffi, the allegations against them were unfounded, baseless and could not be substantiated.

Mohammed, who was the PDP candidate for Keffi West constituency in the 2019 general election, pointed out that he had never been disloyal to party hierarchy and would never do.

He, however, said that the process of suspending him and others from the party was unfair, calling for the intervention of the PDP national leadership to ensure peace, progress and stability of the party.

Mr Abdullahi Umar, Organising Secretary of the party in Keffi Local Government area, also said that his suspension and those of others were based on fictitious allegations.

“They have suspended me along with seven others based on the allegation that we sponsored thugs to embarrass the party leaders during the zonal meeting held here (Keffi).

“We were not given fear hearing before our suspension from the party and this is contrary to the spirit and letters of the PDP constitution.

“In this respect, we have written a petition and submitted same to the national headquarters of our party and copied all organs of the party.” he said.

It was reported that the trio and their supporters threatened to take legal action against the party.