…Offers pathway to peace, unity, stability

•Mbah: South-East must stand together

•Wabara: We’ve been trampled upon too many times

•Udenwa: We don’t want to be taken for granted any longer

•Secretariat staff, management decry crisis, support governors’ position

The crisis plaguing the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) got messier Wednesday, as the South-east caucus of the party threatened to quit en masse if its nominee, Hon. Sunday Udeh-Okoye, was not returned as PDP National Secretary.

That was as the management and staff of the PDP national secretariat expressed concern over the state of the party, lamenting that in the last one year, the party has been engulfed in a disturbing leadership crisis, particularly, over the office of National Secretary.

Speaking on the plight of the South-east in PDP, Enugu State Governor and leader of the PDP in the zone, Dr. Peter Mbah, said it was time for the zone to speak with one voice.

Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Adolphus Wabara, and former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa, also expressed anger over what they described as the party’s disrespect for the region.

The geopolitical zone vented its displeasure in a communique read by the zonal chairman, Chief Ali Odefa, at the end of a meeting of the South East Zonal Executive, at Government House, Enugu.

It said the meeting was convened to nominate a candidate to complete the remaining term in the position of National Secretary in line with the directive of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) during its 600th meeting in Abuja.

Odefa said, “The South East ZEC exhaustively deliberated on the directive of the NWC and came to the conclusion that it offered a sure pathway to peace, unity, stability, and progress of our party.

“Consequently, the ZEC unanimously recommended Hon. Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the candidate to complete the term of office of the National Secretary.”

The South East PDP regretted that it had to go through the process of nominating Udeh-Okoye several times since October 2023. It urged the NWC to not only immediately ratify his nomination, but also ensure that Arch. Setonji Koshoedo effectively occupied the office of National Secretary in acting capacity pending Udeh-Okoye’s ratification by the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC).

The South East PDP threatened to review its membership of the party should its position suffer further delay, despite its age long loyalty to PDP.

The communique said, “The South East has consistently served as a stronghold of the PDP from inception. In PDP’s near three-decade existence, we have given our loyalty and all to the party.

“Currently, while the party has been losing key members post-2023 general election, the South East PDP is at the vanguard of strengthening the party by rallying major opposition figures such as in Enugu, where the Labour Party, LP, gubernatorial candidate, two LP House of Representatives members, numerous members of the House of Assembly, among other stalwarts into the PDP fold.

“Therefore, we hope that this time around, the position of the South East PDP regarding the Office of the National Secretary is accorded the honour and immediacy it deserves. This would bring to a closure the needless lingering dispute over the matter.

“However, in the event that our position is not promptly implemented by the party, the South East PDP, as a family, will be compelled to reconsider our relationship with the PDP going forward.”

Wabara said it was in order to review the region’s relationship with the party should what he described as trampling on the zone by the party persist.

He stated, “We have been trampled upon, not taken seriously. If such a position were vacant in the South-south, it would not be like this. And now, it came to us. I mean, the usual thing is to play politics with the Igbo man. Yes, we may have to reconsider our stand as far as the party is concerned. But I trust the NWC.”

Udenwa also said, “We are expecting that this issue will be finally ironed out once and for all. We do not want to be taken for granted by anybody again.”

Meanwhile, staff of the PDP national secretariat in Abuja called on the acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Iliya Damagum, to take all necessary steps to ensure that the NEC meeting held as scheduled, on May 27, to enable the party address pertinent issues and reassert its values of unity, discipline, loyalty and strict adherence to the provisions of the party’s constitution.

The management and staff said they supported Koshoedo as acting national secretary of the party, and commended the BoT, NWC, the governors’ forum, and other stakeholders.

They also pledged their continued loyalty and commitment to PDP.

The management and staff said, in a joint statement, “After a thorough consideration, the management and staff of the PDP national secretariat unanimously align with and declare unalloyed loyalty to the recommendation of the PDP Governor’s Forum as adopted by the NWC in recognising and working with Arch Setonji Koshoedo as the Acting National Secretary of our party in line with the provisions of the PDP Constitution.

“This recommendation, which is in consonant with Section 36 (2) of the PDP Constitution was duly adopted by the NWC in its 600th meeting held on April 29, 2025 wherein in exercise of its powers under Section 29 (2)(b) of the PDP Constitution directed the Deputy National Secretary, Arch Setonji Koshoedo, to act as the National Secretary pending the emergence of a substantive National Secretary.

“We believe that the NWC’s directive that Arch Setonji Koshoedo acts as National Secretary is in the overall interest of the stability of our party, being the best step at the moment to restore the confidence of members of the party and preserve the integrity of our internal affairs

“Moreover, we are aware that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has received and acknowledged Arch Setonji Koshoedo as the Acting National Secretary of the PDP.

“We are also aware that INEC is receiving and attending to correspondences of our party signed by Arch Setonji Koshoedo, contrary to false narratives by certain quarters.

“As staff of the PDP, we fully recognise and appreciate the roles and contributions Senator Anyanwu has played and made for the growth and success of the party, especially issues regarding staff welfare, but at this moment we strongly believe that there is no sacrifice too high for any individual to make for the overall interest of our party.

“The PDP gave him the platform from which he rose from local government chairman, to senator and also elected as the National Secretary of our party.”

The management and staff said the leadership dispute was worsened by protracted litigations, violent disruption of activities at the party secretariat, and damaging media narratives, which posed serious threat to the stability and survival of PDP as well as the credibility of its internal processes.

They said in the statement that staff of the national secretariat were among the key stakeholders in the affairs of the party because many of them had spent 20 to 25 years of their working lives striving to establish and grow the bureaucracy of the party and were bestowed with rich institutional memory regarding the party.

They said they were desirous and concerned about getting the problems solved without further delay.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has yet to make any decision regarding the national chairman and national secretary crisis rocking Labour Party (LP).

The commission made the clarification in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, on Thursday in Abuja.

Oyekanmi also said that it had yet to take any decision on the national secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The commission faulted some media reports which claimed that INEC had recognised the embattled national chairman of LP, Julius Abure as well as Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the national secretary of the PDP.

Oyekanmi said the reports were false and misleading.

“Our attention has been drawn to some media reports claiming that the commission has recognised certain persons as the national chairman and national secretary of LP.

“The reports also inferred that the commission has restored a particular individual as the national secretary of PDP, referring to the listings on the commission’s official website.

“However, the reports are false and misleading. The commission has not made any decision in respect of either the LP or PDP,” he said.

Oyekanmi said that the names of the national officers of LP had previously been uploaded to INEC website, following a court order, not related in any way to the latest judgement of the Supreme Court.

“In the same manner, the name of the national secretary of PDP on the same website was neither deleted nor reinstated.

“As a law abiding institution, the commission is carefully studying the judgment of the Supreme Court on the LP and will communicate its decision to the public in due course,” Oyekanmi said.

…say with their defections, LP ceases to exist in Enugu North Zone

The federal lawmakers representing Igbo-Eze North/Udenu federal constituency, Hon Dennis Agbo, and Igbo-Eze South/Nsukka federal constituency, Hon Mark Chidi Obetta, as well as Hon Malachi Onyechi, who represents Nsukka West state constituency in the Enugu State House of Assembly, have defected from the Labour Party (LP) to the Peoples Democratic Party, insisting that the state governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, has made opposition in the state very difficult with his outstanding performance in all the critical sectors of the state.

The lawmakers, who said they were glad the governor runs a transparent, honest and inclusive government, maintained that Labour Party in Enugu North Senatorial District, also known as Nsukka Zone, had ceased to exist with their defections to the ruling party.

Speaking at their formal reception at the PDP secretariat in Enugu on Thursday, Hon Agbo lauded Governor Mbah for his visionary approach to leadership, which he noted was already transforming the state in areas of education, security, healthcare services, and other infrastructure.

He said with the large numbers of supporters that had joined PDP with them, Labour Party had nothing remaining in the senatorial zone.

“I say this because Hon Chidi Obetta, Hon Martins Oke representing Igboetiti/Uzo Uwani federal constituency, and myself also representing Igbo-Eze North/Udenu federal constituency, and all the House of Assembly members are with us in one place. These are the foot soldiers. We are saying that opposition is very difficult in Enugu now. It is very difficult because one man has made it a mission impossible, and that is the performance of Governor Mbah.

“And so, let me thank the superlative performing governor for his visionary leadership. He can see very far. With the Smart Schools, he has seen the next generation, and he is preparing the children of Enugu State to participate in that future. There are so many things that he is doing,” he added.

On his part, Hon Obetta described his return to PDP as a homecoming, saying they had a conviction to return to the party because of Mbah’s leadership and how the state was becoming a reference point for development.

“My return to the PDP is predicated on the tenets of the development indices we are seeing in Enugu today; the man is too much,” he said, pointing at Mbah’s remarkable achievements in road infrastructure, transport and aviation sector, tourism and hospitality, as well as education, pointing out that the 260 Smart Schools under construction translated to over 7000 technology-driven classrooms throughout the 260 electoral wards across the state.

“In healthcare sector, Governor Mbah is performing magic. Type-2 healthcare centres all over the 260 wards of Enugu State. In the area of hospitality, he is equally performing wonders. Look at the Presidential Hotel. Enugu is going to have a 5-star hotel for the first time. That is to tell you that he is touching every aspect of our lives.

“The bottom line is that the reason why some of us have decided to return to the PDP is that Governor Peter Mbah is showing us the way. Some of the plans we have for the state can only be achieved if we partner and collaborate with him,” he stressed.

Speaking, Hon Onyechi said he was one of the founding members of PDP in 1999 and has returned to his true home because of the giant strides the governor was making in the state.

He said Governor Mbah was the first governor to domicile projects worth over N2 billion in each of the electoral wards, explaining why they decided to work closely with him.

Reacting, the State Chairman of PDP, Dr. Martin Chukwuweike, assured that the governor would continue to deliver and run an all-inclusive administration.

He expressed confidence that the 2027 elections in the state would be a walkover for the PDP because of the governor’s performances, declaring an end to the repeat of 2023 elections as the party was now positioned to sweep the state because of what the governor was doing in the state.

“Just like they all said that it is because of our governor’s performance, we know that the governor has performed very well and in the coming term, he will do more than what he has done. In the next few weeks, he will be doing his second anniversary in office, and we expect that all of us are going to be there,” he concluded.