In a dramatic twist within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a faction of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has insisted that the highly anticipated 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting will go ahead as scheduled on Monday, June 30, 2025.
This directly contradicts the earlier announcement by the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, that the meeting had been postponed.
The internal rebellion surfaced in a press statement issued on Wednesday and signed by no fewer than 13 top-ranking members of the NWC, including Deputy National Chairman (South), Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, and Acting National Secretary, Hon. Setonji Koshoedo.
The group firmly rejected Damagum’s pronouncement, describing it as a violation of resolutions reached at the party’s 99th NEC meeting held in May.
The faction emphasised that no individual or group has the constitutional authority to override a decision of the NEC, which they regard as the party’s highest decision-making organ after the National Convention.
“The pronouncements by the Acting National Chairman have no foundation,” the statement read, “as no organ of the party, including the NWC, or any individual, can cancel, overrule, veto, or vary the resolution of the National Executive Committee under the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017).”
In a move that further intensifies the intra-party crisis, the faction also disowned Senator Samuel Anyanwu’s status as National Secretary, rejecting Damagum’s assertion that Anyanwu had been reinstated.
According to the group, the issue of the National Secretary’s office had already been deferred to the June 30 NEC meeting, and any claim to the contrary is both premature and unconstitutional.
“The claim by Amb. Damagum that Sen. Samuel Anyanwu has been asked to resume office as the National Secretary is misleading,” the group stated. “It contradicts the 99th NEC’s resolution that all matters concerning the office be addressed at the 100th NEC meeting.”
Signatories to the statement, aside from Arapaja and Koshoedo, include Hon. Ahmed Yayari Mohammed (National Treasurer), Sir Okechukwu Obiechina Daniel (National Auditor), Hon. Debo Ologunagba (National Publicity Secretary), Dr. Woyengikuro Daniel (National Financial Secretary), High Chief Ali Odefa (National Vice Chairman, South East), and Hon. Emmanuel Ogidi (Caretaker Chairman, South-South), among others.
With the latest standoff, the PDP appears headed toward yet another round of leadership turbulence.
As June 30 approaches, all eyes will be on whether the scheduled NEC meeting holds, and what consequences this power struggle could have for the future of Nigeria’s main opposition party.
