The stalemate over the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) national secretary office continued yesterday as the much-anticipated National Executive Committee (NEC) could not resolve the raging tussle.
The NEC, the party’s second-highest decision-making body, shifted the deliberation on the controversial matter to its next meeting on June 30 this year.
By implication, the deputy national secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, whom the PDP governors asked to assume acting capacity, will continue to serve while the tussle continues.
This was indicated in a communique released after the meeting and signed by the acting national chairman, Amb Illiya Damagum.
The gathering also approved the conduct of a National Convention from August 28 to 30, 2025. It ratified the zoning committee of national offices, which has Governor Douye Diri as chairman, Governor Dauda
Lawal as vice chairman, and Governor Caleb Mutfwang as secretary.
It also ratified the composition of the National Convention Committee, which comprises Governor Ahmadu Fintiri as chairman, Governor Ademola Adeleke as vice chairman, and Governor Peter Mbah as secretary.
However, on the national secretary tussle, the communique said, “ NEC resolved to consider the Resolution of the South East Zonal Executive at the next NEC meeting scheduled on Monday, 30th June, 2025.”
For fear of the national secretary impasse thwarting the NEC meeting, the matter was shifted to the next gathering of the party leaders to allow for cooler heads, it was learnt.
It was also gathered that the party caucus, which met earlier, could not arrive at a conclusive position on the contentious issue, which has pitted the South East PDP leaders against Nyesom Wike-backed Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who insists he is still secretary.
The South East PDP had re-nominated and submitted Hon Sunday Ude-Okoye as its candidate for the national scribe office. The zone had also threatened to dump the party if its nominee was rejected.
It was also learnt that the reconciliation committee led by former Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki sought more time to intervene. The Saraki team met the Enugu State governor, Mbah, last week to assuage frayed nerves.
On the country’s state, the NEC restated the party’s demand that President Bola Tinubu’s administration rescind all its anti-people policies and take practical steps to address insecurity and economic recession.
The body also declared resistance to what it called a sinister plot by the Tinubu-led APC to turn Nigeria into a one-party totalitarian state, accusing the ruling party of desperate attempts to stifle and annihilate opposition parties through open siege, threats and intimidation of opposition figures with institutions of democracy.
“It is clear that this plot is borne out of APC’s mortal fear of inevitable defeat in 2027 due to its dismal failure in government,” it said.
The communique also condemned “the worsening insecurity; the wanton killings, banditry, kidnapping, marauding of communities and other acts of terrorism in various parts of our country, emboldened by President Tinubu’s apparent negligence and abdication of his Constitutional duty to ensure the safety and security of the nation and her citizens.”
PDP Governors Suffering Persecution – Bala Mohammed
Speaking earlier at the gathering, Senator Bala Mohammed, chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, disclosed that PDP governors had endured a lot of intimidation from the ruling party.
“As governors, we have gone through a lot. Our members are standing strong and resolute. There is no intimidation that we are not going through. There is no caressing or cajoling that members and elected governors are not going through. But certainly, we are resolute. We will not abandon the mandate,” he said.
He noted that other parties had been penetrated, leading to factions, but that the PDP had remained united.
“The governors are united. We are ready to work.
No amount of intimidation or exclusion by the federal government will make us give in. And we are ready to tolerate and swallow all the melancholy and abuses we will get,” he said.
Pursue genuine reconciliation – Wabara
For his part, the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, called on party members and leaders to pursue genuine reconciliation.
He urged party leaders to be honest with themselves, adding, “We must embrace reconciliation not as a political tactic but as a moral imperative.”
Earlier, the acting national chairman of PDP, Damagum, noted that the NEC was almost postponed because of contending issues; however, he thanked party leaders for ensuring that it held as planned.
He added that the NEC would meet several times before the August national convention to resolve all contending issues.
“People are outside there waiting for this opportunity to see whether we can surmount all these self-inflicted problems and somehow engineer them from some quarters, but with the help of God, we’ll continue to overcome,” Damagum said.
