…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.