Why crisis persists in PDP, by Anyanwu
The National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, spoke with reporters on the protracted crisis in the party and how it can be resolved
What are the issues that led to the internal crisis in the PDP?
We’ve had a lot of negative press for some time now, and it’s very disheartening, and I feel very concerned about it. So, for me, there’s only one group of people that can make or mar a situation or in the organisation, and that’s the press. But, so far, we’ve not been able to manage our party’s crisis. There is no doubt our party is in crisis. I’m a realist. All the crises are man-made. It’s all about ambition, and it’s very disheartening.
I was elected in October 2021 as National Secretary of this party. According to the zoning, it was zoned to the South, and micro-zoned to Southeast. And just like every other state in the Southeast, it was zoned to Imo state.
Every state in the Southeast has a representative in the National Working Committee (NWC). For instance, the National Deputy Treasurer comes from Enugu State; the National Auditor from Anambra State, and the Deputy National Legal Adviser, Abia State. So, you can see that it is wickedness for anybody who wants to take something from Ebonyi State and give it to Anambra State, when positions are evenly disputed.
But assuming that I am no longer the National Secretary, for instance, whoever replaces me must come from Imo State. Besides, the National Secretary of a party is for the entire south. I was not elected by only the Southeast. I was elected at the convention by the entire nation. I represent the nation, but it’s very disheartening that the governor of Enugu State insisted that this must go to Enugu State, when Enugu already has somebody.
By the way, is there any vacancy? There’s no vacancy. In 2023, I wrote to the party that I’m going to run election and I took leave. I wrote to INEC that while I’m on that leave, my deputy will act, and so he did.
All these are happening because the then National Vice Chairman (Southeast), whose tenure was elapsing, wanted to remain a member of the National Committee. He went and conjured, manipulating the governor of Enugu State, to believe that he could become the party’s national secretary. I’m sure that the governor himself is not aware that the offices are shared according to the state.
They jumped into it because he knows that the next National Vice Chairman of Southeast is supposed to come from Enugu State, and he knows that he will not get it back. So he wanted to return, because his tenure ended on March 3rd or so. That’s how this whole issue started. He now connived with his friend, who is Governor Makinde of Oyo State, to pressurise Enugu to bring Ude-Okoye in, and they went to court.
During the flag off of my campaign, the Enugu governor came and asked me to resign, and I told him, I will not and he was so angry. How can I resign on the day of my flag-off? He became angry and said that I was going to resign. So it’s about ego. So I should trade my position because of somebody’s ego.
I wonder how my office will endanger any of them because by December, my tenure will elapse, if, of course, I choose not to come back. So, why don’t you allow a sleeping dog to lie?
Each time they talk about people destroying the party. All these PDP leaders who go on national television to demarket the party. Instead of saying issues that can build the party, you are saying things that will destroy and demarket the party and accuse the Minister of FCT, because he’s my friend.
I will not take it if anybody ridicules me. I will never tolerate it for any reason. In every position everybody is having now, in the next two years, a few of them will leave and all of us will meet at the lounge of the airport.
So, it’s a man-made thing up to the extent of sponsoring staff of a party to choose whom they want. That is very, very low. It’s a very low thing to do. But I will not give in to anybody trying to mess me up or mess my career up.
It took me time to build my reputation. I’ve been a two-time local government chairman. Two times, a House of assembly member went to the Senate, and ran for governor twice and national secretary. None of them ever said they supported me in my last election; all the governors contributed money to give to other candidates of the party, but they refused to send even a dime to me. Rather, they demanded that I resign, and I ran my election without their support.
So, for me, I’m on the side of the law. Now, let me give an example: Ali Odefa, they are parading up and down, is not a member of the party. This is a High Court judgment. He was expelled by his ward, affirmed by his local government and then, of course, the state.
They went to court and got a judgment. This is part of the judgement: ‘An order of perpetual injunction restraining the first defendant, Honourable Dr. Ali Odefa, from parading himself as a member of the PDP and or as its National Vice-Chairman, Southeast zone and from performing the roles or exercising the powers of the position.’
It goes further to say, ‘This court ruling not only fortified the decisions of the party structures at his ward, Local government and state levels, but also permanently banned him from presiding at or even attending any PDP-related meetings. It is thus established that any meeting conveyed or attended by Honourable Ali Odefa remains invalid and infected by the virus of fundamental illegality.’ This is the judgment of the High Court.
So, you will not go to the Southeast and say you are convening a meeting, who was there? I am the National Secretary; I am from the Southeast. What meeting will you convene when I am not there? What justification do you have? Assuming today, I am no longer the National Secretary, I am a member of the caucus, I am a member of the Board of Trustees, and I am a member of the NEC based on my position. In politics, the governor of a state is the only governor. He’s the only governor in the Southeast, but not the leader of the party, and the party is supreme.
My question is, what will Governor Makinde say that I did to him? Have I stressed him for any reason? Have I called him funny names? What’s my sin? What’s my problem with him? Have I done anything against him? What have I done against him? I consider him my friend.
Let me tell you, nobody can sign a document outside of me. They came to find it themselves after doubting what I told them. I sent a message because I know that the committee of Saraki is still meeting, and they were supposed to round up.
I have now sent out a letter signed by me stating that the NEC is postponed pending when they finalise. So what they had there was not NEC, it was a stakeholders meeting, because NEC had not signed for it. If it is an NEC meeting, any decision taken there is illegal because PDP is a party, an organisation, ruled by law, and we should respect our constitution. And they make it look as if I’m one person causing problems with PDP.
When people have a motive, a vision, what would my vision be? Whether you want to be president, whether you want to be governor, what would my position do? My position will end by December. The election is in 2027, and the primaries are scheduled for 2026. I will not be there. So, what would my position now be?
The FCT Minister is my friend and my boss, and I can never deny him, no matter the intimidation. Nobody can make me deny my friend because, after position, there’s still life. Even you, as journalists, I don’t know where I’m going to meet you tomorrow. Your job may not be as a journalist. So I cannot under-rate any of you, because this journey is still very far and nobody knows how it will end.
This is what I tell my NWC members. We came here as a united family. It would be nice for us to go as a united family. So that we can still meet tomorrow and say we are brothers. We served an organisation. Let nobody try to fragment the NWC. We’ve been here for three years plus. We just have four months to go. Let us do it and go in peace. Assuming the convention is in August or October. Nobody has fixed anything yet.
We just have a few months to go. Why would anybody want to break their head? So, for me, the position of the national secretary is very clear. I’m the secretary of the caucus. I’m the secretary of NEC. If NEC says I am so and you do anything to the contrary, you are shooting yourself in the leg.
Some people will say Senator Anyanwu is pro-Wike. What is pro-Wike? Everybody knows his role in this party. Everybody knows when it mattered most; he was there for the party. He is working with the APC government, and they have forgotten the way he was appointed. He wrote a letter to his party in the state.
The party at the state gave him a go-ahead. He wrote a letter to the then-governor, who also gave him the go-ahead. He wrote to NWC. And he is appointed. I would not stop him from holding that position.
The Supreme Court has spoken. And what did the Supreme Court say? That the person who went to court is a meddlesome interloper; that is the judgment of the Supreme Court, and that the judgment of the high court is nullified. All my reliefs sought are meritorious and sustained. And what are my reliefs? I am the national secretary of the PDP.
So I never resigned. And don’t forget that from November 23rd, after my election in 2023, to January 9th, when I got a judgment at the federal high court, till today, this is one year plus, I’ve been working. I’ve been doing all the congresses.
If they say that I have resigned, that I’m not a national secretary, then every congress, in all the states, even the governorship candidates that I signed their documents will be a nullity.
That means PDP has no structure at the ward, local government, and state levels. So, I think that our parties should be very careful. They should be very, very careful.
You see, I respect our governors. I respect them because I know it’s not easy to be a governor. But that you’re a governor does not mean that you cannot come out and tell your colleagues the truth. They know the truth. Why are they shying away from it? They know the truth.
The chairman of the governor’s forum went to INEC and confirmed. They said, Oh, it’s not true. The National chairman went to INEC, they said it was not true. The legal adviser gave his legal opinion. He said it’s not true.
Now, people who say it’s not true. They went to INEC, and INEC confirmed it to them. So, he now went to a stakeholder’s meeting. Instead of him saying, we are not going to say it openly. Maybe some time, I would demand an apology because I’ve gone through psychological trauma, unnecessary blackmail, Media blackmail, and Insults because I don’t talk, because I’m not the publicity secretary of the party.
So, I cannot talk to the press corps all the time. That’s why most people think I don’t talk. Because I confine myself within my own office. As the National secretary, I know much about this party. I know a lot and as a very responsible man, I keep a lot to myself, but when I’m provoked, the things I will say will shock them.
Did Ali Odefa Appeal the judgment?
The judgment was delivered on the 26th of January 2025. (26:49) In suit number FFC/AI /227/2024. The judgment has not been appealed as we speak, up till now.
Is the PDP part of the ongoing effort to form an opposition coalition?
No, the PDP is not part of the coalition. It cannot merge with another party. The PDP is the first party and the one that helped to retrieve power from the military. There is no nook and cranny of this country that you will not find a PDP stalwart. So, it is other parties that should be subsumed into the PDP, rather than a merger.
Today, I look at the people who call themselves Southeast leaders. The day before yesterday, the chairman of the BOT was in the coalition meeting. He went on air, on Arise television, to disparage me, but it’s only a threat.
It started when I was working as chairman while he was a governor. He suspended me because I supported Ararume’s aspiration to be governor. So, that threat has been there. He said we were doing a coalition. He went to Daura to see Buhari.
Then, on Sunday, they were all doing coalition. They’ve come to do stakeholders’ meeting because they want to remove the National Secretary before they leave for their party. Ben Obi was there in the coalition.
We in the party said that we are not part of the coalition. So, who is deceiving whom? What is going on? Who are the people paving the way for the APC to continue? Who are they?
According to the court judgment, any PDP activity that involves Ali Odefa becomes a nullity. How can you check his participation, keeping an eye on the Nigerian constitution that allows freedom of association?
I will repeat the language for you. The court says that any meeting convened or attended by Odefa remains invalid and ineffective.
If he wants to attend any party event, he has to go back to his ward to be re-admitted as a member of the party. That is just a true, simple truth.
By the way, there is a court judgment too that has brought in a new national vice chairman, a replacement. Whatever he is doing is illegal if we are to be serious and honest, and want to uphold constitutional responsibility.
There is an internal mechanism for resolving issues. We have a resolution that believes in the rule of law. And if you don’t do that, then why will we accuse another party of violating the rule of law, when you cannot uphold your constitution?
Are you prepared to make any sacrifices for the party can move forward if the NEC meeting insists you are no longer the National Secretary?
This is very simple. I campaigned, I went to all the states campaigning for this position, and I was elected, and my position is for four years with the constitutional guarantees. And the next convention is in August or October. And we have just five more months to go.
Why would you want to put a party into turmoil? Why would you sacrifice me and a man who has been rejected by his people and by the court, is attending a meeting? What kind of sacrifice is that? And you think I will stand and I will sit and watch? It’s not about making a sacrifice. It’s about doing the right thing. It’s only when you do the right thing that somebody can make a sacrifice.
What would I do between now and the convention to injure the party at all? And why would I be irresponsible to injure a party that gave me a platform?
Some of these people have left the party and come back. Some of them came to this party midway. But I have been with this party since 1999.
I’ve never gone out and come back. I’ve remained. In my state, we’ve had a government. We are PDP. For eight years, Rochas was governor I was in PDP. I defeated his candidates in the state assembly, and went straight to the Senate. That’s how my popularity is. So, for me, I don’t see the reason why we should injure this party. And that’s why I want you to know, is there anything going on that they don’t want to tell us?
I don’t know. I don’t know what they’re trying to do.
Otherwise, I don’t see the reason. This is uncalled for. All these problems are uncalled for. That’s why I said it’s a man-made crisis.
Comments
Post a Comment