Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has revealed how the Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah and his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde, were manipulated to work towards his removal as national secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Anyanwu, who insists he is still the national secretary of PDP, dismissed Tuesday’s PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) , noting that it was merely a stakeholders gathering.
He also maintained that he will never betray his friendship with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Nyesom Wike, because of the ongoing crisis in the party.
Recall that Monday’s PDP NEC deferred deliberation on the contentious national secretary tussle to its June meeting. The South East zone had renominated Sunday Ude-Okoye as its candidate for the position with a threat that it would dump the party if he was rejected.
But speaking with newsmen yesterday in Abuja, Anyanwu who recounted the cause of the crisis said, “In 2023, I wrote to the party that I’m going to run in the election and I took leave. I wrote to INEC that while I’m on that leave, my deputy will act and so he did.
“Before then, the then National Vice Chairman of the party South East, his tenure was elapsing, and he wanted to remain as member of the National Committee. He went and conjured, manipulated the governor of Enugu State, making him believe that he can have the National Secretary of the party. I’m sure that the governor himself is not aware that the offices are shared according to the states.
“They jumped into it, because he knows that the next National Vice Chairman of Southeast is supposed to come from Enugu State and he knows that he will not get it back. So he wanted to return because his tenure ended on March 3 or so. That’s how this whole issue started. He now connived with his friend, who is Governor Makinde of Oyo State, to pressurise Enugu to bring Ude-Okoye in and they went to court.”
Anyanwu who attributed the crisis to an ego tussle, said his rejection of Governor Mbah’s request for him to resign as national secretary, provoked the governor.
Anyanwu, who noted that he won’t be removed from office until his tenure ended, said he was elected in October 2021 as national secretary of this party and according to the zoning, it was zoned to the south, and micro zoned to southeast.
He however added the office of the national secretary was for the entire south and not the South East alone.
“Assuming that I am no longer the National Secretary, for instance, whoever is to replace me must come from Imo State. Besides, the National Secretary of a party is for the entire south. I was not elected by only the South East. I was elected at the convention by the entire nation. I represent the nation but it’s very disheartening that the governor of Enugu State insisted that this must go to Enugu State, when Enugu already has somebody,” he said.
He added that the recent South East caucus meeting in Enugu State was wrong because the convener, national vice chairman of South East, Ali Odefa, is no longer a member of PDP.
