The leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a fresh twist yesterday as the South East leaders of the party distanced themselves from a meeting between the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) and South East stakeholders scheduled for today.
The meeting, it was learnt, is about the contentions surrounding the national secretary position of the party which is being contested between Senator Samuel Anyanwu and the Sunday Ude-Okoye.
The meeting is also meant to discuss the holding of the congresses in the South East zone, a memo dated January 24 and purportedly signed by Anyanwu circulating on social media, stated.
However, the South East leaders, yesterday, declared that they have discussed and unanimously agreed on all matters related to the planned South East Zonal Congress, the PDP national vice chairman, South East, High Chief Ali Odefa, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the national publicity secretary of PDP, Hon Debo Ologunagba said he is not aware of any meeting between the NWC and the South East caucus, describing it as a rumour.
Recall that the South East PDP leadership met last Friday and restated its support for Udeh-Okoye as the national secretary of the party.
At a meeting in Enugu, the PDP leaders jointly approved the zoning of national and zonal offices allocated to the South-east Zone.
The intense contest about who is the authentic national secretary of the PDP, between Anyanwu and Ude-Okoye, has widened the split within the party’s NWC.
The matter is currently being argued at various courts, including Nigeria’s Supreme Court.
Reacting to the planned meeting, Ali Odefa said, “My attention has been drawn to a purported invitation of critical South East Stakeholders of the PDP to a meeting with the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great Party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
“As the National Vice Chairman (South East) and member of the NWC representing the South East, I hereby authoritatively state that no such meeting is scheduled between the South East Stakeholders and the NWC.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the PDP South East has at the Zonal Committee (ZEC) meeting attended by all South East critical stakeholders in Enugu, Enugu State on Friday, January 25, 2025, discussed and unanimously agreed on all matters related to the planned South East Zonal Congress.
“All PDP South East Critical Stakeholder, staff of the National Secretariat of the PDP and the media should therefore disregard the purported invitation to a meeting of the South East Stakeholders with the NWC as no such meeting was scheduled,” Odefa said.
When asked about the meeting, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said “Well, I am not aware, and there’s no information, and I’m not aware of any meeting by the NWC with the stakeholders of the party in the Southeast Zone of our party.
“I’m aware that last Friday, the Zone held a very successful meeting where all critical stakeholders were present, led by the governor of Enugu, Mr. Mba. And they held a successful meeting which was all over the world in the public domain.
“So, the NWC, and if the NWC is going to hold a meeting with any organ of the party or any zone of the party, or any unit of the party, I, as the National Public Secretary, will be aware.
“For tomorrow’s rumored meeting, I am not aware of any. There’s no scheduling of any. And to that extent, I will take that as a rumor.
“The NWC did not approve and did not schedule. There will be a daily meeting with the Southeast Zone tomorrow, as you have indicated, because I’m not aware of any. The NWC did not approve and did not schedule any meeting,” Ologunagba said.
