The lingering crisis rocking the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reached a critical point. Now, the National Executive Committee (NEC), the Board of Trustees (BOT), and the PDP governors are on a war path regarding the choice of National Secretary of the party. The development has halted effective running of the party and the needed coordination to challenge a more strategic ruling All Progressives Party (APC), AZIMAZI MOMOH JIMOH reports.
The political knife tearing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is now very close to its jugular as fears mount that should the battle continue, effective running of the party will be grounded, as well as holding of its National Executive Committee (NEC) and national convention.
With two claimants to the position of the party’s national secretary, the situation is dire for Nigeria’s 27-year-old former ruling party.
Concerns have increased both within and outside the main opposition party because for a crucial decision of PDP to be considered valid, the party must first resolve the contentious issues surrounding the position of its national secretary.
The latest twist to the crisis is a petition to the police Inspector General, Kayode Egbetokun, by Sam Anyanwu, to avert the disruption of peace by stopping any forceful implementation of the judgment of the Enugu division of the court of appeal by the PDP Governors.
This might result in the closure of the Secretariat of the PDP as was done in 2016 during the Ahmad Markarfi and Ali Modu Sheriff crises.
Another dimension to the crisis is the justification it gives to cases of defection, which are already swelling in the party particularly among its members elected to serve in the legislature.
The 1999 Constitution as amended, allows lawmakers to defect from their party to another political party and retain their seats provided the defection is as a result of a crisis in the party they are leaving.
Senator Ned Nwoko, who represents Delta North senatorial district is the latest of such lawmakers to have defected from PDP to All Progressives Congress (APC).
Nwoko cited deep divisions and factionalisation within PDP as the primary reason for his decision to leave the party, stating that the growing factions has become irreconcilable.
Also, the daughter of former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, ErhiatakeIbori-Suenu, a member of the House of Representatives for Ethiope Federal Constituency, who led a mass defection from the PDP to APC cited the same reason.
Just as the battle of supremacy reigns in the party resulting in fisticuffs at the party’s national secretariat last Wednesday between supporters of the two claimants to the office, Sam Anyanwu and Sunday Ude-Okoye, the Board of Trustees (BoT) and even the seriously factionalised National Working Committee (NWC) is an indication that the much awaited National Executive Committee (NEC) will hold this February.
But the PDP Governors’ Forum has come up with a March 13 date, thus providing a total opposition to the February date. The last PDP’s NEC meeting was in April, 2024. Proposals for subsequent meetings have been marred by postponement obviously because of the crisis. The party’s constitution stipulates that NEC should meet at least every quarter.
Despite assurances last week that the meeting would hold this month (February), it has emerged that no such meeting may be held in the near future should the battle of who is the authentic national secretary of the party lingers.
Very crucial to the survival of PDP is the meeting of NEC, which has become very imperative this year being the year for the national convention that should elect new members of NWC. The tenure of the current NWC terminates in December, 2025 and as such, a national convention must be held before December.
The party’s constitution places serious responsibilities on NEC to among others, plan and convene the convention, as well as to carry out the decisions and instructions of the national convention.
The NEC is also charged with the constitutional role to supervise and direct the work of the party and its organs including the National, Zonal, State and Local Government organs; ensure that all the organs of the Party function democratically and effectively.
Section 31(2)(e) of the PDP constitution states that, “Where necessary, dissolve a State Executive Committee and appoint a Caretaker Committee to run the party until another executive committee is elected, provided that the period from the dissolution to the election of the new executive committee shall not exceed 3 months” PDP’s constitution further stipulates.
However, many organs of the party are seriously divided on who should continue to exercise the functions of the National Secretary. While the Governors’ Forum recognises the former national youth leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye, the NWC, which does the day to day running of the party, recognises Sam Anyanwu.
At its last meeting in Asaba on Friday, the governors endorsed Sunday Ude-Okoye as the substantive national secretary of the party.
The communique released after the meeting stated that, “The Forum noted with delight the ongoing efforts at resolving the crisis in the NWC, on the position of the National Secretary and reaffirmed its support for the Court of Appeal judgment. Consequently, the Forum advised the NWC to set up the machinery for the effective implementation of the court judgment.”
However, in a telephone interview with The Guardian, Anyanwu swiftly rejected the position of the PDP Governors and insisted that the endorsement of his rival by the Forum notwithstanding, he remains the National Secretary.
He said: “First and foremost, the PDP Governors’ Forum is not an organ of our party, so I’m unperturbed by the communique they issued after their meeting. One fact remains, I’m the National Secretary of the PDP.
“Remember, the Governors Forum is one out of several pressure groups in our party. You can see even the communique is adversity. There’s a likelihood that they did what they did to satisfy Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and our courts remain supreme in such matters.
“The Appeal Court gave an order for a stay of execution of an earlier judgment, and the Court’s current position is clearly in my favour, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. I’m complying with this court order, and in case they are not aware, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will not recognise any other person besides me as PDP National Secretary.” Anyanwu stressed.
In the latest twist, Anyanwu on Saturday asked the police to stop any attempt to disrupt the peace by a forceful implementation of the judgment of the Enugu division of the court of appeal.
In a petition dated February 1, 2025, and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Anyanwu stated that the advice given by the governors to the NWC to implement the court judgment is an invitation to chaos.
According to him, “It is saddening that the governors in their expected wisdom have allowed themselves to be deceived by the sponsors of Ude-Okoye who are already facing criminal investigations by the police against the forged PDP guidelines, which they used to mislead the courts in securing the ill-fated judgments.
“Police is therefore being alerted of the grave dangers that will ensue in the attempt of the NWC to implement the quoted advice of the PDP Governors Forum enshrined in paragraph 3 of their communique. It will be an invitation to chaos and affront to the judiciary and the rule of law especially when the matter is pending before the superior courts for determination.”
The PDP’s constitution places so much importance and relevance to the office of the National Secretary that the party’s life becomes almost impossible without him.
A glance at that constitution shows that the national secretary of the PDP is not just the custodian of the common seal of the party, he is the Chief Administrative and Accounting Officer of the Party, whose functions “shall be to supervise the day-to-day activities of the Party.
“He conducts or directs the conduct of the correspondences of the Party and causes to be issued notices of meetings of the National Convention, the National Executive Committee, the National Caucus and the National Working Committee.
“It is also the responsibility of the national secretary of the party to keep or cause to be kept all records of proceedings of the National Convention, the National Executive Committee, the National Caucus and the National Working Committee, as well as other records of the Party.”
Another critical role of the secretary is to ensure the implementation of the decisions and directives of the National Convention, National Executive Committee, National Caucus and the National Working committee, and ensure that all units of the Party carry out their duties promptly and efficiently.
While many leaders who are now locked in politics and intrigues believe that Ude-Okoye, having secured a judgment of the Enugu division of the court of appeal to begin to function as the party’s secretary, to be fully recognised as such, others are of the firm conviction that Anyanwu, who has secured a stay of execution of that judgment from the Abuja division of the court of appeal should continue in office until the Supreme Court gives its verdict on that matter.
The horrible events that played out at the national secretariat of the party last Wednesday is a clear signal of the infighting within the party.
It is interesting that the BoT, which wanted the NEC meeting to hold, was forced to recognise the two claimants.
While it did not openly oppose the continued stay in office of Anyanwu as secretary, the BoT invited Ude-Okoye to attend its 79th meeting, a situation that made the fracas inevitable.
The invitation, which was confirmed by Ude-Okoye himself, boosted the allegation earlier made by the acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, that the BoT leadership is complicit to the crisis rocking the PDP.
Ude-Okoye said he was shocked that when he arrived and took his seat to participate as secretary of the PDP in which position he was invited, he was subjected to attacks, a development to force him out “in self defence.”
Ude-Okoye said his name was number 46 in the list of BoT members invited for the meeting.
Asked to react on remarks by the BoT chairman, Adulphus Wabara to the effect that the crisis between you (Ude-Okoye) and the national secretary (Sam Anyanwu) has been resolved, Ude-Okoye said: “Which National Secretary are you talking about, is it me or who? I am the national secretary, maybe you didn’t get what the BoT chairman said. The BoT chairman said that it is going to be resolved and a committee has been formed. He even mentioned the name of the chairman of the committee, Tanimu Turaki SAN. That was his statement.”
“I have already assumed office on December 30, 2024, I assumed office and it is everywhere,” he stressed.
As the crisis degenerates, leaders and elders in the party are sinking in blame games, lamentations and frustration. But Damagum, who accused leaders of promoting the crisis stated,
“I want to say this with the highest sense of responsibility, part of this crisis that you see today within the NWC, is propelled by our leaders that are supposed to unite us. It’s very unfortunate, I would say it the way it is”.
He also expressed disappointment that, “I’ll be sitting down at the chairman only to see my members called by certain leaders to visit certain places, without my knowledge. And I want to use this opportunity to caution us, caution our leaders.
“You may have ambition, but you don’t ride on a dead horse to reach your destination. If you create a crisis simply to further your ambition, you may get what you want, but your dream will not be realised, because by that time, you have injured the horse and you are going to ride to that destination.”
He disclosed that, “as the conscience of this party, some of us are also complicit. We should look inwards, search our conscience. This party is dear to all of us, it is the only thing we have. The hope of Nigerians today is on this party, so we should sheath our swords, work towards uniting ourselves so that we’ll have a credible vehicle that can challenge what is bedeviling us.”