S/East PDP Faction Says Anyanwu Is Party’s National Secretary

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South East, led by Chidiebere Egwu, has announced that Samuel Anyanwu remains the party’s national secretary.

Egwu said the meeting held by Ali Odefa, whom he described as the former National Vice Chairman of the party, in Enugu was null and void.

Naija News reports that Egwu’s faction stated this on Thursday after their stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja.

Recall that the Odefa-led South East Zone PDP, in Enugu, had threatened to dump the party if the National Working Committee (NWC) failed to recognize Sunday Ude-Okoye, who is the region’s candidate for the position of national secretary.

Egwu, who claims to be the Vice National Chairman of the PDP in South East, in a communiqué issued after the meeting, commended Bukola Saraki‘s led committee for their stand of the national secretary crisis.

It read: “We, PDP South East stakeholders comprising BOT members, National Working Committee members, former Governor, Senators, Honourable members of House of Representatives and House of Assembly Members, past and present, the National Vice Chairman, South East and Zonal Working members and major high net worth members of the PDP across the States in the South East hereby, resolve thus:

“We commend the leadership of the PDP for setting up the Dr. Bukola Saraki-led Reconciliatory Committee and we are hopeful that the outcome will be in line with the legal status of the state of affairs in the PDP as espoused in the constitution and decisions of the courts, and that major gladiators would abide by the outcome.

“It is hoped that the vile aim of the outcome of said meeting held at Government House, Enugu directed by the conveners and attendees at sabotaging the effort of the Reconciliatory Committee would come to naught.

“The Supreme Court has settled, with finality, the status of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, and it is on record that the INEC has, rightly, given effect to the said judgment, which is the right thing to do.

“In view of 2 above, we hereby serve a note of advice that, in the administration of the PDP, it is impossible to ignore the lawful status of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP and any attempt to stand against this clear position of the law will cause irreversible political damages because INEC would not give effect to the outcome of conventions, congresses and primary elections that do not have the signature of the lawful National Secretary.

“In the same breath, it is important to stress that the Deputy National Secretary can only act in the absence of the National Secretary as evident in the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“The clear and express provision of the PDP Constitution is that the offices of the National Secretary and Deputy National Secretary are not conjunctive. Accordingly, the pathway of directing the Deputy National Secretary to act in a situation where the National Secretary is not absent is an endorsement of illegality, which cannot stand legal scrutiny.

“We, therefore, call on the National Working Committee and in particular, the Acting National Chairman, to abide by the clear provisions of the Constitution of the PDP and comply with the Supreme Court judgment to steer the Party on the path of legality.

“The PDP is a political party that evolved on the altar of constitutional democracy, founded on respect for the rule of law. On this note we demand that the Board of Trustees, the conscience of the party, and the Governors Forum must give full effect to the tenets of rule of law, and the manifest implication of this historic burden, is that both bodies, do not have a choice other than to respect the status of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the lawful National Secretary.”