AMID the escalating crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party, the National Working Committee has called for an emergency meeting, following a deadlocked session between PDP governors, party leaders, and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
A reliable PDP source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorisation, told The PUNCH that the NWC is scheduled to meet today (Wednesday).
According to the source, INEC advised the party to consult its members, its constitution and other documents to resolve its internal disagreements.
The PDP Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, while addressing journalists after the meeting with INEC, stated that the party would consult its leadership and respond to the commission within 48 hours.
The PDP has continued to grapple with internal crises since its defeat in 2015, marked by leadership wrangling, defections, and unresolved congress disputes across key zones.
At the centre of current tensions is the ongoing battle for the National Secretary position between Sunday Udeh-Okoye and Samuel Anyanwu, the latter enjoying the support of Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike.
This rivalry has deepened internal divisions and led to repeated postponements of the party’s NEC meetings.
To stabilise the situation, the PDP appointed Setonji Koshoedo as acting National Secretary.
However, a fact-finding panel led by Taraba State Governor, Kefas Agbu, reported that INEC still recognised Anyanwu as the duly elected national secretary.
Following this, the PDP’s 99th NEC session scheduled its landmark 100th meeting for June 30, and on May 30, Damagum sent a formal notice to INEC.
The electoral body rejected the letter, insisting that such communication must be jointly signed by both the party’s national chairman and national secretary, urging the PDP to comply with procedural rules.
In response, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, clarified at a Sunday press briefing that under Nigerian law and the PDP constitution, INEC’s role was merely to receive notifications of conventions, congresses, or primaries, especially those involving elections of party officers or candidates and not to approve or dictate internal party processes.
He stated, “INEC has no role in the regular meetings of the NWC or NEC. These are internal party matters, as established by the Supreme Court in numerous rulings.
“INEC cannot cancel our meetings. It is the party’s prerogative to decide such matters. INEC has no authority to do so. We are planning to hold our meeting as scheduled, if anything changes we will brief you.”
In a statement released on Monday, Damagum distanced the party from Ologunagba’s remarks about INEC, characterising them as his personal views, regrettable, premature, and made without proper consultation.
As revealed by this newspaper on June 24, PDP governors, members of the NWC, and other party leaders held a meeting with INEC officials in Abuja on Tuesday.
Speaking after the nearly two-hour meeting, Damagum stated, “It was a fruitful discussion. We will go back and meet with our larger stakeholders and disseminate all our discussions that took place today and we will come out with a position.”
Following initial remarks during media interaction (before the closed-door meeting), the meeting was called at the request of the PDP to clarify procedural issues and legal concerns that have arisen since the Supreme Court issued a ruling related to the party’s internal leadership structure.
In his opening remarks, Damagum expressed appreciation to INEC for hosting the meeting.
He explained that the meeting was aimed at addressing confusion related to the party’s national secretary, following both internal decisions and court rulings.
“We are here today, as you are aware, to have issues about the status of our national secretary. We have gone into litigation, I think, from the beginning of last year until when the Supreme Court made a pronouncement of which INEC was a party,” he said.
He further noted that the PDP’s National Executive Committee had mandated him to sign a letter to INEC to clarify the party’s position and to avoid further controversy.
“We are here to interact sincerely with you off camera so that it will guide us when we get back to have a position.
“Most of my members that are here will also help in bringing out the position that we felt we should combat together,” he added.
Responding, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, welcomed the PDP delegation, noting that the commission was always open to engagements with political parties.
Yakubu said, “This meeting is at the instance of the party. They requested to interact with us and our doors are always open to meet with leaders of political parties in our capacity as the registrar and regulator of political parties in Nigeria.”
Yakubu highlighted that the meeting was intended to address procedural irregularities in recent communications from the PDP, especially regarding its national secretary.
“You may recall that not long ago we received similar visitors from the Labour Party. So when the PDP said it was going to visit, we welcomed them,” he said.
The INEC chairman noted that the controversy began when the party invited INEC to monitor its 100th NEC meeting through a letter signed only by the chairman, without the co-signature of the secretary, as required.
“I am glad that that meeting was the 100th meeting of the NEC of the party, meaning that 99 times in the past you fully complied by inviting us, by means of a letter signed by the chairman and secretary of the party,” he said.
Yakubu added that INEC had been receiving conflicting communications regarding who holds the position of PDP national secretary.
“In the last couple of months, we received letters from the party saying that one Ude Okoye was the secretary. Thereafter, the party changed its mind and said it was sent to Samuel Anyanwu.
“Thereafter, the party changed its mind to say that it is Setonji Koshoedo, and again the party changed its mind to say it is Anyanwu.
“And the last letter from the party has no secretary at all. It was only signed by the chairman, which we responded to,” he said.
The INEC chairman concluded by emphasising the importance of resolving the issue.
Also responding, Ologbondiyan expressed disappointment over Damagum’s attack on Ologunagba.
He called on PDP leaders to act swiftly to halt what he described as an attempt by Damagum to undermine the party’s legacy.
Ologbondiyan stated, “I read the statement credited to the Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Ilyasu Damagum, dismissing the media interface of our National Publicity Secretary, Hon Debo Ologunagba, with utter disappointment.
“Damagum came after Ologunagba for re-echoing the unanimous resolution of our National Executive Committee (NEC), that the next meeting (100th) would be held on June 30th.
“This latest action by Damagum is completely unacceptable and a major affront to the authority of NEC, the NWC and the sensibility of all PDP members.
“There are two cardinal offences against the spirit of the PDP from this latest action of Amb Damagum; he has sought to torpedo a decision of NEC and secondly brought our party to a public odium.
“The leaders of the PDP must take action immediately to stem this attempt by Amb Damagum to destroy the legacy party, the PDP.”