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Stakeholders’ Fight for Soul of PDP Not Abating Soon

Chuks Okocha in this report chronicles the crisis rocking the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party in recent times explaining that the crisis is far from being over.
Like the famous novel, ‘One Week, One Trouble’ authored by Anezi Okoro, activities at the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is gradually taking another dimension as the crisis rocking the main opposition party is by no means showing any sign of being resolved.
Since January 13, 2025 when the party resumed from new year break, the once largest political party east of the sahal region has not stopped from being embroiled in one controversy or the other, especially the unending leadership tussle between two claimants to the National Secretaryship seat, Senator Samuel Anyanwu and Hon Sunday Ude-Okoye.
From December 20, 2024 when Ude Okoye got a Court of Appeal order from the Enugu Division affirming him as PDP National Secretary and January 2, 2025 when Anyanwu filed an application for a stay of execution of the appeal judgement to date, the once vibrant party has been involved in crisis of attrition.
And to cap it all, the main victims of the fight at the Abuja national secretariat of the party are the road users who are either blocked or diverted to other roads through no fault of theirs. When the party resumed from break, the party secretariat was blocked by police and security agencies. In fact one of the claimants to the office of the national secretary had to import thugs from the neighbouring state of Nasarawa and as usual, the roads were condoned off.
The same thing happened last Wednesday when the party had it’s Board of Trustees’ meeting. What started on a peaceful note ended in fracas. At the meeting, fighting broke out at the national secretariat of the party over the presence of the two claimants to its national secretary post.
After the opening ceremony, and newsmen were asked to go out to allow the party trustees to settle down for the main business of the day, Anyanwu’s aide confronted Ude-Ude-Okoye and that was the beginning of trouble for the day.
Ude-Okoye’s attempt to get back to the meeting resulted in fisticuffs with the Board Chairman and former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, trying to intervene with little success.
However, individuals who were said to have accompanied Ude-Okoye, responded, forcing the gate open in an attempt to shepherd him back into the hall. The thugs that came with Ude-Okoye jumped the PDP secretariat fence but were rebuffed by a combined team of mobile police men and detachment of soldiers. Over five trucks of policemen were mobilised to the scene with hooded police men.
Trouble started when Ude-Okoye was reported to have forced himself into the hall where the BoT meeting was holding. At this point, some of the thugs jumped the fence and forced themselves into the meeting hall.
The thugs held the BoT meeting hostage for some minutes till the FCT Commissioner of Police, Tunji Disu mobilised his men to the place. The meeting was ongoing with Ambassador Iliya Damagum, Acting National Chairman, and Anyanwu seated before the arrival of Ude-Okoye.
Earlier before the fracas, the acting national chairman, Damagum in his opening speech promised the BoT members that the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting will take place in February, 2025 as promised last year when the PDP governors met in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
He, however, accepted that there is crisis within the party but blamed the crisis on those he described as leaders whom he said were misleading the members with their various meetings. Damagum blamed elders of the party for fanning embers of the crisis saying, ‘’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, where people are called, we all know the working of NWC, some of you here have been NWC members. I’ll be sitting down as the chairman only to see my members called by certain leaders to visit certain places, without my knowledge. Each one of you, if you are the chairman, will find it difficult. And I want to use this opportunity to caution us, caution our leaders.
He continued, ‘’You may have ambition, but you don’t ride on a dead horse to reach your destination. If you create crisis simply to further your ambition, you may get what you want, but your dream will not be realized, because by that time, you have injured the horse you are going to ride to that destination.
‘’And 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’’.
Commenting on the expectation of all, he said, ‘’At the last meeting we had with the governors, we all agree we’ll have NEC. I want to assure you that we’ll do everything possible to have this NEC in this February. You are all aware we’ve started the process of zonal congresses”.
Speaking on the same issue, the BoT chairman expressed his displeasure with the crisis within the party.
According to him: “This meeting comes at a time when the unity, focus and direction and ideals of our great party are being tested in ways that call for reflection and decisive action.
‘’Primarily, let me express my profound disappointment over the crises currently rocking the leadership of the National Working Committee (NWC). As elder statesmen and women; leaders who hold the trust of the generality of our party members and the public, it is disheartening that these issues have not been resolved. The failure to resolve these internal conflicts undermines the strength and credibility of our party.
“It is therefore imperative that the NWC rises above personal interests and places the survival and progress of our great party above all other considerations. In the light of these challenges, I must emphasize the urgent need for a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting. I again urge the NWC to honour its words and convene the NEC meeting as scheduled in February, 2025. It is pertinent to stress that party members across the country are in earnest expectation that the NEC meeting will hold this February.
‘’The NEC remains the highest decision-making body of our party, and it is crucial that we convene without further delay to address these pressing concerns. The NEC meeting will serve as a platform to reaffirm our shared commitment to the unity, discipline, and ideals that bind us together as members of the PDP.”
Question For Wabara
But the big question is how did Ude-Okoye gained access into the meeting since he is not a BoT member? A South East stalwart of the party, Hon Chukwudi Apugo asked Wabara to explain why he took charge of the list of BoT members that were invited to the Wednesday meeting.
According to Apugo, the BoT secretariat prepared a list of those that were expected to be in the meeting which excluded Ude-Okoye but surprisingly another list containing the name of Ude-Okoye signed by Wabara was sent to the security gate for accreditation.
The former two-time member of Abia State House of Assembly asked, “if Wabara was not out to play a sinister motive, at what stage did it occur to him to invite Sunday Ude-Okoye who is not a member of the Board of Trustees of the party?”
To the bewilderment of everyone both Anyanwu and Ude-Okoye appeared on Wabara’s list as serving National Secretaries which gave rise to the ugly incident that took place at the PDP National Secretariat last Wednesday.
Apugo asked, ‘’ If Anyanwu was recognized and invited to the meeting as a serving National Secretary of the Party what then was the motive of Wabara in inviting Ude-Okoye in the same capacity as a serving National Secretariat if not to create confusion and ignite crises?
He further queried, why the Board of Trustees meeting should have two different accreditation lists if not to cause mischief.
Supporting the views of the Acting National Chairman Damagum who accused some members of being complicit, the South East leader called on Wabara to act as a true elder statesman and chairman of the BoT which is the conscience of the party.
He said what Wabara did is by no means indicting his status as the BoT chairman of the party, stressing that he has already taken side in the crisis within the party.
According to him, “In the Wabara’s list before him, Senator Samuel Anyanwu is number 46 as National Secretary, while in number 47 is the name of Sunday Ude-Okoye.
‘’Whereas in the other list it is only the name of Anyanwu, blame Wabara for all that took place at the BoT meeting. The action of Wabara amounts to a contempt of the Appeal Court stay of execution order granted to Senator Anyanwu in pursuit of his Appeal already filed in the Supreme Court for which Wabara is well informed about.
“Wabara is an elder Statesman who is not expected to take actions injurious to the unity of the Party, Apugo stressed.
“Since the Court of Appeal presided over by the President of the court issued a directive, it is incumbent on any lawful citizen to respect that order of the court.
“All parties should maintain status quo ante bellum as directed till the matter is finally determined by the court. Any action contrary to that position is reprehensible and should be properly sanctioned” Apugo further said.
PDP Governors Intervention
The party’s governors after it’s meeting in Asaba in Delta State last Friday called on the National Working commission (NWC) of the party to implement the judgement of the Court of Appeal on the position of the National Secretary of the party.
Ude-Okoye has in his favour a court of appeal judgement since December 20, 2024 while Anyanwu has a restraining order dated January 13, 2025.
But the main question that is begging for answer is which of the Court of Appeal directives should be obeyed. Is it the December 20, 2024 judgement that sacked Anyanwu or the January 13 restraining order?
Then, again, what of the committee set up by the BoT to look into the positions of the two conflicting orders of the court of appeal.
It was based on this controversy that Anyanwu had to petition the Police and the Department of State Services saying the directive of the PDP governors is an invitation to anarchy.
Anyanwu Petitions Police, DSS
In a petition dated February 1, 2025, Anyanwu condemned the PDP Governors Forum for advising the National Working Committee (NWC) to implement a Court of Appeal ruling that recognized Ude-Okoye as the substantive National Secretary.
Anyanwu argued that this advice directly contradicts a pending appeal at the Supreme Court and an existing court order requiring all parties to maintain the status quo until the case is resolved.
The embattled national secretary emphasized that the Court of Appeal had, on January 13, 2025, ordered both parties to preserve the current structure until the final determination of the case, which the law mandates they uphold.
He accused Ude-Okoye of unlawfully storming the party’s National Secretariat on January 29 with “hired thugs and bandits” to disrupt a Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting, despite not being a member.
Anyanwu described the action as a blatant disregard for the judiciary and the rule of law.
He alleged that Ude-Okoye’s sponsors were under criminal investigation for forging PDP guidelines to mislead the courts and secure fraudulent judgments.
In his petition, Anyanwu urged the police to intervene and prevent a crisis, warning that attempts to implement the governors’ advice would be “an invitation to chaos” and an affront to the judiciary.
Anyanwu maintained that he remains the validly elected National Secretary of the PDP until the courts rule otherwise and vowed to resist any efforts to remove him. His petition highlighted the ongoing leadership crisis within the PDP, with divisions between the NWC and BoT.
Anyanwu’s Definite Stand
Also in an interview, Anyanwu insisted that “the communique of the PDP Governors’ Forum is nothing to worry about; I remain the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party’’.
According to him: “Under the constitution of PDP, the Governors’ Forum is not exactly a formal or constitutional organ of the party.
It is only a pressure group, so their communique is advisory. It is very likely that that they did that today to please Governor Peter Mbah who spearheaded this.
‘’The constitution of Nigeria and the Courts of the land tower above all; the Appeal Court gave an order for a stay of execution that is in my favour and it is clear that as we speak today, in compliance with the law and the order of the court of law, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will not dare deal with any other person in PDP as National Secretary except me. As I said earlier, there is nothing in that communique to worry about.’’