Why Wabara’s suspension stands, by Abia PDP boss
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rose from a meeting, yesterday, and resolved to recognise Sunday Ude-Okoye as the party’s national secretary.
In Abia State, the statement of the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Tuesday, dismissing the suspension of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Sen Adolphus Wabara, seems to cut no ice with the State Executive Committee (SEC), as the Chairman, Abraham Amah, insists that the suspension stands.
Ologunagba stated that the issue of the National Secretary was taken after members of the NWC extensively considered the memo dated February 11, 2025, presented by the Acting National Chairman.
He stated: “The NWC, in considering the memo thoroughly, examined the attached documents namely: the Declaratory Judgment of the High Court of Enugu; the Judgment of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, which pronounced and declared Udeh-Okoye as the National Secretary of the PDP; the Legal Opinion and Advice by Dr Kabiru Turaki (SAN) as well as that of the National Legal Adviser of the PDP.
“After due consideration of the memo and the attachments, the NWC overwhelmingly recognises, acknowledges and confirms Udeh-Okoye as the substantive National Secretary of the PDP in full compliance with and obedience to the judgment of the Court of Appeal, recognising that there is no subsisting or superseding judgment or order from any court of superior authority or hierarchy.”
The publicity secretary further disclosed that “the NWC has commenced the transmission of its Resolution/Decision affirming Udeh-Okoye as the PDP National Secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant bodies for recognition in line with the judgment of the Court of Appeal.”
The NWC commended all organs, leaders, critical stakeholders and members of the party for their steadfastness, respect for the rule of law and loyalty to the party at this critical time.
AMAH, in a press statement, yesterday, maintained that Abia PDP disregarded the statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary of PDP dismissing the suspension of Wabara.
He stated: “We categorically state that the decision of Abia SEC to suspend Wabara met every constitutional requirement of the party and cannot be invalidated by a mere statement from the National Publicity Secretary, which is not a by-product of any official resolution of the NWC.”
For the avoidance of doubt in taking this decision, according to him, the state PDP SEC relied on the provisions of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017).
Affirming that only a competent court of law or the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP has the authority to overturn the decision of the Abia SEC, Amah argued: “Until such a competent authority pronounces otherwise, the suspension of Wabara remains in full effect.
“We urge the National Publicity Secretary to exercise restraint and avoid issuing statements that lack constitutional basis or mislead the public. PDP as a party must uphold discipline and accountability at all levels, and no individual, regardless of position, is above the constitution of the party.”