Proposal by the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) Governors Forum and the Board of Trustees (BoT) for a meeting of the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) next month may have hit the rocks, according to indications yesterday.
The proposal was tabled last November as part of the strategy to save the party’s fortunes ahead of the 2027 elections.
The governors, in a communiqué in Jos, had mandated the National Working Committee of the party led by the Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, to fix the NEC meeting for the first week in February.
The governors said the period from November to February would be dedicated to addressing the critical challenges facing the party.
However, the party’s 2025 Time-Table and Schedule of Activities released by the party’s Directorate of Organization and Mobilization in Abuja does not contain any such meeting whether in February or the first quarter of the year.
But it was gathered that the NWC will meet on Monday, February 10, 2025.
Party sources said the anti-Damagum forces within and outside the PDP NWC may be getting ready to overwhelm Damagum at the meeting.
His position is not helped by the recent ruling of the Court of Appeal that gave recognition to Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the party’s national secretary as opposed to Damagum’s ally, Samuel Anyanwu.
Anyanwu said last week that he remains the PDP national secretary.
“As we speak today, I’m still the national secretary of PDP,” he said on AIT.
“The reason is that on the 20th of December, there was a court judgment from the appeal court of Enugu affirming the judgment of the state high court of Enugu.
“Before then, I had a federal high court judgment which affirmed my position.
“If you remember, sometime in 2023, before the election, precisely on the 10th of November 2023, there was a state high court judgment which said I should have resigned before vying for the office of the governor.
“Then I went to the Federal High Court here in Abuja, which confirmed my position that as long as I was elected by convention, my position is sacrosanct until the 9th of December 2025, when my position will officially end.
“Incidentally, the people that (filed) the case continued the matter at the Appeal Court.
“On the 20th of December, the court (delivered) a judgment in which N1 million cost was awarded against them.
“However, on the same 20th, we appealed the matter and then filed for a stay of execution, which is normal because the Appeal Court is not the highest court.
“So, what does that mean? It means that the status quo should remain.
“There is no faction in PDP. The PDP is led by the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum.”
Speaking on allegations that he and Damagum were working as proxies of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, Anyanwu dismissed such notions as deliberate political misrepresentation.
“Wike and I have been friends since our days as council chairmen. We cannot stop being friends now just because of partisan politics,” he said.
Those opposed to Damagum and Anyanwu fear that they may jeopardise the party’s chances in the 2027 elections.
“The National Secretary is the central figure in all these critical arrangements that would determine the direction of the national convention later in the year, and you know that the officials that emerge at the national convention would eventually determine everything about the arrangements for 2027 presidential primaries.
“So, the fresh heat being generated is understandable,” said a top party source.
Ahead of the February 10 meeting of the NWC, the party is expected to screen contestants for Zonal Working Committee (ZWC) offices on Saturday, January 25.
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The screening will take place at the PDP zonal headquarters.
Election of ZWC members for the North East, South East and South-South will take place during zonal congresses on Saturday, February 22 while the zonal congresses of the North Central and South West are scheduled for Saturday, March 22, 2025.
Damagum’s supporters, citing an October 2024 court ruling, strongly believe he will remain in office until December.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had restrained the PDP NEC and BoT from removing Damagum as the party’s acting national chair.
In a judgment delivered via Zoom on October 11, Justice Lifu ordered that aside Damagum, no other person must be recognised as the PDP acting national chair until the party’s convention scheduled for December 2025.
Lifu held that PDP members were bound by Articles 42, 47 and 67 of the party’s constitution which stipulate that national officers of the party can only be elected during the party’s national convention.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/579/2024 was filed by Umar Maina, Yobe State PDP chair.
The plaintiff prayed the court to invoke article 45, 47 and 67 of the PDP constitution to stop the move to replace Damagum.
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