• Insist on ratification of Ude-Okoye
• Mbah, Wabara, Udenwa, others back stance
• PDP staff support govs, NWC, affirm Koshoedo as acting secretary
The South-East Zonal Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has issued a warning to the party’s national leadership, threatening to reconsider its membership status if Sunday Ude-Okoye, its nominee for the office of National Secretary, is not ratified without further delay.
The warning came after a zonal meeting held in Enugu, following a directive from the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), which, at its 600th meeting on April 29, 2025, mandated the South-East zone to nominate a candidate to fill the vacant position.
“Therefore, we hope that this time around, the position of the South-East PDP regarding the office of the National Secretary is accorded the honour and immediacy it deserves. This would bring to an end the needless lingering dispute over the matter. However, if our position is not promptly implemented by the party, the South-East PDP, as a family, will be compelled to reconsider its relationship with the party going forward,” the party stated yesterday.
Reading the communiqué of the meeting, the PDP National Vice Chairman (South-East), Ali Odefa, announced that the zone had unanimously reaffirmed its nomination of Ude-Okoye.
The communiqué further stated: “It is recalled that on March 21, 2025, the Supreme Court brought to a close the protracted legal tussle over the position of the National Secretary of the PDP. The apex court, in its ruling, held that the issue of the leadership of a political party is the internal affairs of such a party and that the courts and the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had no jurisdiction and ought not to interfere.
“Following the consideration of the report of the panel it set up to review the Supreme Court judgment, the PDP Governors’ Forum, at its April 14, 2025, meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State, recommended that the South-East PDP should nominate a candidate, who would serve out the remaining tenure of the National Secretary of the party zoned to the region.
MEANWHILE, key leaders of the opposition PDP in the South-East have backed the zone’s threat to reconsider its relationship with the party if its choice of Udeh-Okoye as the National Secretary is not respected for the umpteenth time.
While Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, who is the leader of the PDP in the zone, said it was time for the zone to speak with one voice, the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, Adolphus Wabara, and former governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa, expressed fury over what they described as the party’s disrespecting and trampling of the region.
The zonal caucus had vented its displeasure in a communiqué read by the Zonal Chairman, Ali Odefa, at the end of a meeting by the South-East Zonal Executive(ZEC) at the Government House, Enugu.
HOWEVER, the management and staff of the PDP have thrown their weight behind the PDP Governors’ Forum and the National Working Committee (NWC) in recognising the Deputy National Secretary, Arch. SetonjiKoshoedo, as the acting National Secretary.
At a press briefing in Abuja yesterday, PDP’s Director of Administration, Gurama Bawa, on behalf of the 83 staff members, expressed concern over the ongoing leadership issues, especially regarding the National Secretary role.
The PDP has faced internal turmoil since the 2023 elections, escalating in December 2024, when a lower court named former National Youth Leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye, as National Secretary.
While the PDP Governors’ Forum, Board of Trustees (BoT), and NWC accepted the ruling, Senator Samuel Anyanwu challenged it at the Supreme Court, which, on March 21, dismissed his removal, stating that internal party matters are not for courts to decide.
