PDP postpones NEC meeting as gale of defection looms

The national working committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has postponed the 103rd national executive committee (NEC) meeting. 

The event was scheduled for October 15 at the party’s headquarters in Abuja.

In a statement issued on Monday, Debo Ologunagba, PDP spokesperson, attributed the postponement to “recent developments” in the party.

Ologunagba said a new date for the NEC would be communicated to members.

“All NEC members should please note the postponement and be guided accordingly,” the statement reads.

The NEC is the highest decision-making organ of the PDP, comprising state governors, serving and former presidents, former vice-presidents, the chairman and secretary of the board of trustees (BoT), principal officers of the national assembly, all state chairpersons, members of the NWC, former governors, and founding members, among others.

The PDP is scheduled to hold its national convention to elect new NWC members on November 15 with preparations in top gear.

However, some PDP members, believed to be associates of Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), have asked the federal high court in Abuja to prevent the convention from taking place.

In a ruling delivered on Thursday, James Omotosho, the presiding judge, refused the plaintiffs’ ex parte application.

He ordered the plaintiffs to serve all the defendants with their motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.

The matter was adjourned to October 14 (today) for the hearing of the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.

Several prominent members of the opposition party, including governors and lawmakers, have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Peter Mbah, the governor of Enugu, is expected to formally defect from the PDP to the APC today. Agbu Kefas, governor of Taraba, is also on the verge of joining the ruling party, according to the grapevine.