The leadership crisis in the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) took a new dimension on Saturday over who is the authentic National Secretary of the party which is now the subject of a tussle between Senator Sam Anyanwu and Sunday Ude-Okoye.
It would be recalled that Anyanwu, the substantive National Secretary stepped aside last year to become the governorship candidate of the party in the November 11, 2023 Imo State election.
However, he did not submit a letter resigning from his post before emerging as the party’s governorship candidate in Imo.
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While Anyanwu was pressing on with his governorship race, the PDP South East Zonal Executive resolved to nominate Ude-Okoye, a former National Youth Leader of the party, to replace him as the national secretary.
The Zonal Executive committee had argued that it would be a distraction for Anyanwu to retain his position as party secretary at a time when he was the party’s Imo State governorship candidate.
The party’s Board of Trustees last week fired a letter to its Acting National Chairman demanding the recognition of Ude-Okoye as National Secretary as ordered by the court.
The position of the BOT has also received the endorsement of one of the party’s governors, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, who declared that he stood by the BOT on the issue.
The governor declared in a letter that it was desperation for anyone to “hold on to two things at the same time.”
Recall that Ude-Okoye subsequently dragged the PDP before a Federal High Court in Enugu, which, in October last year, ordered the party to recognize him as the party’s national secretary.
The PDP NWC countered this in a motion filed on October 24, 2023, asking the court to set aside the order, noting that “it was obtained by fraud and suppression of material facts” while also faulting the order for not being specific as to what position Udeh-Okoye should fill.
Earlier this month, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja declared Anyanwu as the valid national secretary of the PDP.
The judge also restrained the national leadership of the PDP from appointing any person as acting national secretary until the completion of Anyanwu’s four-year tenure on December 9, 2025, as enshrined in the party’s constitution.
The BoT led by its acting chairman and former Senate president, Adolphus Wabara, has now written to the NWC led by acting National Chairman, Umar Iliya Damagun, warning about the consequences of not recognizing Ude-Okoye as earlier ordered by the court.
In the letter dated 11 January 2024, also copied to all 13 state governors elected under the PDP, the BoT chairman pointed out that Ude-Okoye was already in court before Anyanwu filed his case in another court with coordinated jurisdiction in a way the board described as a classic case of abuse of court process.
It pointed out that the judgment given by the Abuja court did not nullify the one given by the Enugu State High Court as only a higher court could override it.
The BoT warned that given the Plateau State experience where the PDP elected members of the state and national Assemblies were removed because they were not validly nominated, the party may face a similar challenge if the wrong person is allowed to sign the nomination documents in the coming bye-elections.
The BoT letter signed by Wabara reads: “The Acting Chairman may recall my earlier conversation on the above subject matter.
“It is a well-known fact that the High Court in Enugu delivered judgment on the 28th of December 2023 and ordered the Party to recognize Hon. S.K.E Udeh Okoye as the National Secretary of the party to serve out the tenure of Sen. Samuel Anyanwu.
“I noticed with concern that the Party is yet to comply with the judgment.
“It is also to the knowledge of the Board that there is a subsequent Suit filed in Abuja for which judgment has been delivered on the 9th of January 2024.
“This, however, is a classic case of abuse of the Court process having been filed when a similar case was pending to the knowledge of the sponsors.
“It is also important to draw your attention to the fact that the judgment obtained from the subsequent case filed at the Federal High Court Abuja does not nullify the judgment of the Enugu State High Court being courts of coordinate jurisdiction and being the case filed earlier.
“The only time the judgment from the Enugu State High Court will cease to have effect is when it has been set aside by a superior court.
“Having not been set aside, it remains valid and subsisting and there is an urgent need for the party to obey it even if it is not convenient for some persons.
“The party is still licking its self-inflicted wounds by the court because of refusal to obey court judgment in Plateau State which has led us to lose all the elected seats won at the State and National Assembly.
“The refusal to obey this judgment is an indication that the necessary lesson has not been learnt and there is imminent danger of the party losing seats across 9 States in the bye-election if the judgment is not obeyed and this comes with attendant calamitous consequences for us as a party.
“As leaders, we should not carve a dubious reputation for PDP as a party that has a penchant for disobeying court orders.
“It is therefore important for us to embrace wise counsel and allow the rule of law to prevail by complying with the judgment and save not just the party but the interest of the candidates participating in the Bye-Election and other subsequent elections.
“Finally, as the party prepares to nominate candidates in the nine (9) affected states for the February 3, 2024, Bye-Elections across the country, it is the Board’s candid opinion that the person recognized by law, according to the attached judgment, be allowed to sign the INEC Nomination.
“This is to ensure that the court does not see our party as disobeying a judgment of the court.
“Acting Chairman, please note that the Tribunals and Court of Appeal were hard on us in the Plateau matters and they will be even harder on us this time around, should we repeat the same mistake again.
“We should not allow another painful Plateau incident. This is to place on record the advice of the Board.”
Governor Makinde’s letter
Oyo state governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde in a reaction to Wabara’s letter expressed his “deepest gratitude” to the BOT of the party “for standing up for equity, justice, fairness and the interest of the party as it relates to the matter in question.”
In his letter dated January 15, 2024, addressed to Wabara, Makinde stated that he agreed “with the advice and the stand of the Board of Trustees on this issue.”
“Not only is it morally and legally wrong for anyone to be the jury and judge in his or her own case, it also displays a worrisome character deficit for someone to be making infantile desperation to hold onto two things at the same time.
“I do not intend to go into the details of the matter at hand, but simply to put the record straight and to also align with the position of the Board.
“I am a firm believer in the Peoples Democratic Party and pledge my commitment and unwavering support for the growth and success of the Party at all times. You can always count on me.
“Finally, let me respectfully and humbly encourage you and the Board to continue on the path of speaking the truth always, while setting the right standards and examples for all of us; the party members to follow,” Governor Makinde stated.
NWC’s response
In his reaction to the story, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, dismissed any notion of a potential crisis in the former ruling party.
He said: “The party is united. The party is governed by the constitution. Individual members can say their position about what they feel but that doesn’t represent the party. The NWC has a party to manage and we are managing it and we follow our due process, we follow our laws, follow our constitution. That’s what we are doing.”
“We have a duty as NWC to manage the party and that’s exactly what we are doing and we are doing a good job at that. Are there challenges? Yes. Life is about challenges,” he declared.
Ologunagba declined to comment on the status of the national secretary position of the party, saying: “I’m not going to comment on that. The party has no problem, the party is law-abiding, we are working with our processes and the position of the party remains what it is; which is the fact that there is no crisis in the party.”
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