Unless superior reasoning prevails, the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) return to the warpath over the intrigues surrounding the position of its national secretary may end up ruling out the party as a serious contender in the 2027 election cycle. Azimazi Momoh Jimoh reports on the recent disagreements over the apex court judgment.
For the embattled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it is crisis without end as its secretaryship battle entered a new phase following the open ended judgment from the country’s court of last instance last week.
The renewed contestation has continued to dampen Nigerians’ hopes of a vibrant opposition to check the perceived excesses of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), particularly in the lead up to the 2027 general election.
PDP seems to be burdened by lack of a clear strategy to reverse the two deadly political blows it just suffered in recent times. From the imposition of State of Emergency in Rivers State, which effectively suspended one of its four governors in South South, to the revocation of its Secretariat plots in Abuja, the opposition party is adding fire to injury as its leaders and stakeholders appear to be exploring opportunities to reap from the judgment.
Divided by interpretation
Just two hours after the Supreme Court read its judgment, Senator Sam Anyanwu resumed duties as national secretary. Similarly, with the swiftness of a gazelle, members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) loyal to Sunday (SKE) Ude-Okoye claimed that the judgment tacitly endorsed the party’s choice of his (Ude-Okoye’s) secretaryship.
As congratulatory messages poured in for both Ude-Okoye and Anyanwu, the fear of anarchy loomed large. But, answering reporters’ questions shortly after he resumed his office as national secretary, Anyanwu called on other NWC members to join him in uniting all organs of the party across the nation.
He stated: “The way forward is for us all to come back together. I work for the party. As I said to my friends in the PDP NWC, we were all elected to serve the party; we may have our differences, but it’s understandable. Even in a nuclear family, people quarrel and then reconcile but in this case, there’s not even any issue to keep quarrelling about. I still believe that we are family, and we came here together, and we shall continue to co-exist together. Our tenure ends on the 9th of December, 2025; so, in the little time ahead of us, we should all work together, stay together and put the party together.”
He looked back on the genesis of the crisis, stressing that those fighting him have strained relationship with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, saying that they saw him (Anyanwu) as a bad party leader for his closeness to Wike.
“Several of those who appear to be against me are only fighting a proxy war, because of my relationship with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who is my bosom friend. He remains my friend. I cannot jettison my friends, because of politics. Where I was coming from, long ago when we became friends, I never knew that I was going to become a National Secretary in PDP. And when he (Wike) needed me the most to support him while he was running as a presidential aspirant in PDP, I was not there for him. So, now, what have I done to injure the party or anyone in it? It’s just mere speculations!”
However, while he expressed hopes that PDP will come out stronger, the embattled national scribe dismissed insinuations that the party will be part of any possible coalition with other political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections. “I have not been informed. I am yet to be informed as the National Secretary and I’d like to know the genesis of such ideas about forming a coalition with other political parties.
“The PDP is too strong and too big to be drawn into being a mere part of any coalition; rather, people should empty their platforms and come into PDP.” On the issue of revocation of the allocation documents for the plot of the land housing party’s secretariat, Anyanwu declared: “I am a National Secretary and I’m just the chief administrator. The fact is that it is not just the PDP that is affected; similar problems affect even INEC, CBN, NNPC’s building and so many others. Let us not make a big issue out of it as if it is all about PDP.
“Before now, even before we came in as members of PDP NWC, we had been having issues over our new national secretariat with Jimoh Ibrahim, who claimed that the land is his own. I know that the lawyers of the FCT stood by us.
“As a matter of fact, before the current issues began, our National Legal Adviser wrote to the FCT Minister, which the National Chairman and I delivered the letter by hand to the FCT Minister. He assured us that nobody will claim what belongs to PDP. You cannot be a tenant, with my rent expiring and when you can’t renew it, you then start fighting your landlord. It’s either one pleads and looks for a way to pay so as to retain tenancy or expect that something else would happen. That is what is going on!”
Fresh storm
But, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, who has been a strong supporter of Ude-Okoye in the fight for secretaryship, allegedly instigated a new storm when he noted that the apex court judgment vindicates the NWC’s decision to allow Ude-Okoye take over as national secretary.
The publicity secretary said that most members of the PDP NWC were happy that the Judgment of the Supreme Court ruled that the issue of party leadership positions, including that of National Secretary, was entirely an internal affair that only the party’s internal mechanism can resolve as the courts have no jurisdiction.
“The judgment of the Supreme Court reaffirms the standing position of the Party and emphatically settles the emergence of Rt. Hon. SKE Udeh Okoye as the substantiative National Secretary of the PDP having been duly nominated, endorsed and ratified through the internal mechanism of the PDP statutory Organs and bodies in line with provisions of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017).
“For clarity, the NWC at its 576th meeting held on the 11th of October, 2023, directed the South East Zonal Executive Committee to nominate a replacement for Senator Samuel Anyanwu upon Senator Anyanwu’s nomination as the governorship candidate of the PDP to contest the November 2023 Governorship election in Imo State,” Ologunagba stated.
Further he recalled that it was consequent upon the directive of the NWC that the South-East Zonal Executive Committee at its meeting on the 20th of October 2023 passed a resolution approving the emergence of Rt. Hon. SKE Udeh Okoye and for his name to be sent to the NWC as the National Secretary of the Party.
He stated: “Accordingly, the NWC at its 577th meeting held on 7th of November 2023 pursuant to its powers under the PDP Constitution, duly received, deliberated upon, accepted and approved the emergence of Rt. Hon. SKE Udeh Okoye as the National Secretary of the Party, which appointment has also since been endorsed by relevant Organs and bodies of the PDP including the Board of Trustees (BoT), South East Zonal Caucus, the PDP Governors’ Forum and officially communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the general public.”
However, the National Publicity Secretary’s statement attracted two conflicting reactions from his deputy, Ibrahim Abdullahi. First, Abdullahi quoted the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Ambassador Umar Damagun, and refuted Ologunagba’s statement, describing it as misleading.
According to Abdullahi, Ologunagba’s statement does not reflect the position of the PDP and the NWC, saying that at no time did the Supreme Court recognize Udeh Okoye as National Secretary, but only described him as an “impostor.”
Nonetheless, before the ink of his initial statement could dry, the Deputy National publicity secretary released another, and denied ever issuing the first. “I did not issue any disclaimer. Mischief makers, in their desperate bid to present this narrative, did. The authors should have been courteous enough to at least intimate me of their presumed notion on my standpoint on this development.
“I have maintained a studied silence in the face of these legal imbroglio leading to the Supreme Court Judgment of yesterday (Friday, March 21,2025). This is in deference to the Court, as the matter was then sub-judice. I had figured the need to maintain a political ambience devoid of contradictions, rancour, violence, and outrage
“It was important to appreciate that even when Distinguished Senator Samuel Anyanwu triumphed at the Supreme Court, he would need the entire PDP family and their solidarity to succeed as National Secretary. This informed my cautiously guided intervention and disposition in the interest of the Party,” Abdullahi explained.
In line with their belief that Ude-Okoye remains the PDP’s National secretary, the camp of PDP leaders opposed to Anyanwu insists that the proposed May 15, 2025 meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) must hold under the secretaryship of Ude-Okoye to sort out pending issues.
Recall that the PDP NEC meeting, which was earlier scheduled for March 13, had to be shifted to May 15, based on “emerging issues, including the need to conclude zonal, state, L.G.A and ward congresses, as well as to allow for further consultation to ensure a hitch-free conduct of the meeting.
A source at the PDP national secretariat, disclosed that with the Supreme Court judgement ruling, “NEC will meet to affirm Ude-Okoye as National Secretary of PDP. The party has taken a decision. It was the party that wrote to the South East zone to present a candidate and the zone presented the candidate. That means it is the decision of the party.
“But, as it is now, the party needs to make an affirmative declaration of it. It is just to call a NEC meeting to approve what the party has decided. NEC can act on behalf of the National Convention, even NWC can act on behalf of NEC. But, when there is confusion, it is better to go through the whole process.”
