PNC refuses to disclose why Nazim was removed as Dhiggaru constituency president

The People’s National Congress (PNC) on Monday declined to explain why Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Dhiggaru Constituency President Ahmed Nazim was removed from his constituency post.

Nazim’s impeachment motion was filed on the 14th of last month, with 73 PNC MPs signing a resolution accusing him of abusing his position, creating discord, and attempting to undermine the interests of Parliament.

However, on 31st of last month, Nazim resigned from the Deputy Speaker’s post half an hour before the sitting was scheduled to begin.  

He was subsequently removed as Dhiggaru constituency president on 5th of this month.

At a press conference on Monday, PNC Chairperson and Speaker of Parliament Abdul Raheem Abdulla said the party believed it would “benefit” from removing Nazim from the constituency leadership.

Under the PNC constitution, constituency presidents are MPs representing the party in Parliament. The leadership, however, has the authority to remove a constituency president if their actions are deemed harmful to the party.

“Therefore, we believed it would be more beneficial for the party to remove him than to keep him as the constituency president,” Abdul Raheem said.

He added that there is no ongoing attempt to expel Nazim from the party.

When pressed repeatedly to explain the specific reason for Nazim’s removal, Abdul Raheem said only that Nazim had lost the confidence of the leadership.

“I don’t want to say that there are many reasons why we don’t have confidence in the leadership. I don’t want to go into details in this meeting,” he said.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has alleged that the PNC is preparing to take a vote to remove President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu from office with the support of 23 MPs. The PNC has denied the claim, insisting its MPs remain “strongly” aligned with the government.

Former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has also said that some PNC members are prepared to leave the party and oppose the government.