The National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Samuel Anyanwu has taken a swipe at the governors elected on the platform of the party, saying that he was elected at PDP National Convention for four Years and with this, he cannot be removed by a handful of party men.
According to him, the decision of the PDP Governors’ Forum to try supplant an elected national officer of the party is an affront against the nation’s laws and the PDP’s constitution that cannot stand at all.
Speaking with journalists, Anyanwu who was reacting to the decision of the governors on Monday during their meeting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital stated that immediately after the Easter holidays, he will return to Abuja and resume straightaway at his office at the PDP National Secretariat in Wadata Plaza, Abuja because there was no vacancy there for anyone to dare occupy.
PDP Governors Forum on Monday had on Monday dumped Anyanwu, appointing temporary National Secretary, just as the recommendation was part of the resolutions reached during an emergency meeting of PDP governors
The governors proposed that the party’s Deputy National Secretary should temporarily assume the role of National Secretary, until a substantive appointment is made from the South East Zone.
Senator Anyanwu said, “I remain the National Secretary of the PDP; this is not the first time that some people are trying a shortcut that falls short of the PDP constitution and contradicts the orders of the court,” Anyanwu stated, warning that those moving the PDP Governors’ Forum in such direction are not helping the party.
According to him, the Supreme Court judgment of March explicitly invalidated two previous judgements that all those involved in the proxy war against him had relied upon while a subsisting Federal High Court order of January this year clearly restrains the PDP, its leaders, its Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo or any other person from acting as the party’s National Secretary.
Anyanwu said, “It seems that they deliberately want to kill the PDP today and tomorrow, blame Wike for it; at the governors’ meeting, the party’s National Legal told them that such decision on the position of PDP National Secretary’s position is wrong, that the Supreme Court had spoken on the matter."
Pointing out that no provision in the party’s constitution allows a handful of privileged partymen to unilaterally invalidate the PDP constitution or the decision taken at a national convention that elected him as National Secretary for a four year term in 2021, the National Secretary noted that before this week’s decision by a meeting of ten PDP governors, a meeting of twenty-five self-chosen South East PDP caucus had tried to supplant him with their nominee before the Supreme Court ruling of March 21 explicitly invalidated all their efforts.
Anyanwu further emphasized that as his lawyer has submitted the Supreme Court judgment to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), every right thinking person knows that there cannot be any valid correspondence between INEC and PDP without his signature and that of the party’s national chairman – an issue that can put the party’s candidate in great jeopardy if someone else illegitimately signs as PDP National Secretary.
Meanwhile, several groups of party members and party stalwarts, loyal to Anyanwu have started mobilizing efforts to confront the second attempt of the PDP Governors’ Forum to supplant Anyanwu at Wadata Plaza.
In a statement in Abuja, members of the PDP Youth Group in the South-South alleged that at least five of the PDP governors are closet loyalists of President Bola Tinubu and his 2027 re-election agenda, adding that the on-going tension between some PDP governors and some members of PDP National Working Committee, particularly the National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu stems from a mix of personal loyalties and party politics.
“Sen. Samuel Anyanwu’s reinstatement by the Supreme Court in March 2025 confirms his position as the authentic National Secretary of the party but some governors who are reportedly upset over his ties or friendship with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, are pushing for his ouster, even in ways contrary to the party’s constitution.
“They have even suggested the appointment of an acting Secretary in place of a popularly elected one, and youths of the party may react to such draconian recommendation with vehement actions to forestall attempts to override the authority of the PDP constitution.
“As party faithfuls, we must all understand that the PDP Governors’ Forum is a pressure group within the party and not a constitutionally recognized organ of the PDP,” they added.
Also, a pressure group, the PDP Frontliners, in a statement by its President, Engineer Abdulraheem Ilyasu Garba and its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Gabriel Segun Adekoya in Abuja on Tuesday warned that the PDP Governors’ move against Anyanwu may only deepen intrigues and wreck all possibilities of rescuing the party before the 2027 elections.
The PDP Frontliners said, “Trying to force Anyanwu out risks deepening the PDP’s internal crisis; the party is already struggling,-look at Anambra state, where PDP members were scared of buying gubernatorial nomination forms due to the chaos; our governors try to make a point about needing unity, but targeting Anyanwu seems more like a proxy war or witch hunt against FCT Minister, Wike rather than a principled stand.
“Sen. Anyanwu has been clear about his unshaken commitment to the PDP above all sentiments and being friends with the FCT minister should not be considered as a crime, especially when Anyanwu has a subsisting legal mandate as a constitutionally- elected National Secretary of the party whose tenure only elapses in December of 2025.”
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