Some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), have asked the party to zone its presidential ticket to the south ahead of 2027 elections.
The PDP stakeholders, including three former governors — Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Samuel Ortom of Benue — made the demand after a meeting held in Abuja on Monday night.
In a communiqué read by Wike, the group said Samuel Anyanwu remains the substantive national secretary of the PDP.
“We therefore unequivocally affirm senator Anyanwu as the truly elected substantive national secretary of our great party,” the communiqué reads.
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“In the spirit of fairness and respect for our party constitution, the party must make an unequivocal announcement zoning its presidential candidate to the south in the 2027 election.”
The PDP stakeholders said only Anyanwu can issue notices of meetings of the national convention, national working committee, national caucuses, and national executive committee (NEC), which is the party’s highest organ.
“All the notices not issued by him, including correspondences to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), are null and void,” the group said.
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Insiders had told TheCable that the meeting was convened by the FCT minister in a bid to halt the planned national convention scheduled for August 28, during which members of the national working committee (NWC) responsible for the party’s day-to-day operations were to be elected.
Although Wike remains a member of the PDP, he is a known ally of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The minister is said to be leveraging his influence within the party to strengthen Tinubu’s chances of re-election in 2027.
THE PDP NATIONAL SECRETARY POSITION TUSSLE
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Anyanwu and Sunday Udeh-Okoye have been laying claim to the position of PDP national secretary.
In December 2024, the court of appeal ruled that Udeh-Okoye should replace Anyanwu as the PDP national secretary.
The south-east zonal executive committee of the party nominated Udeh-Okoye to replace Anyanwu after he became the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Imo state in 2023.
Anyanwu had obtained several court injunctions to prevent his removal from office.
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However, in a verdict delivered on December 20, 2024, Ridwan Abdullahi, the appeal court judge, dismissed the judgment of the high court, which prevented Anyanwu’s removal, for “lacking in merit”.
Following the judgment, Udeh-Okoye said he is the national secretary of the party.
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However, Anyanwu claimed he appealed the judgment and also filed for a stay of execution at the supreme court the same day the appeal court delivered the verdict in favour of Udeh-Okoye.
On January 31, governors elected on the PDP platform recognised Udeh-Okoye as the party’s scribe.
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About a week later, the party’s board of trustees (BoT) aligned with the governors.
In March, the supreme court, in its verdict delivered by a five-member panel, held that the debate over the position is an internal affair not subject to adjudication.
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Delivering the lead judgment, Jamilu Tukur consequently struck out the ruling of the trial court delivered in October 2024 and also set aside the majority verdict of the court of appeal.
The court affirmed the minority judgment of the appellate court, which had nullified the judgment of the trial court over a “lack of jurisdiction”.
In April, the PDP governors recommended that Setonji Koshoedo, the deputy national secretary, should serve in an acting capacity until a substantive secretary is nominated from the south-east zone and ratified by the NEC.
On May 14, the south-east PDP members threatened to leave the party if Udeh-Okoye is not recognised as the national secretary.
In late May, the PDP NEC received the resolution of the south-east zonal executive on the national secretary position but resolved to consider it at its next meeting, scheduled for June 30.
