The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues unabated as the embattled National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, resumed office on Monday despite opposition from key party stakeholders.
Anyanwu arrived at the PDP National Secretariat around midday and spent over two hours in his office before leaving.
His resumption comes in defiance of the PDP Governors’ Forum, which has recognised Sunday Ude-Okoye as National Secretary following the December 20 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, which affirmed Ude-Okoye’s position.
Before the governors’ intervention, the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) had set up a committee led by Tanimu Turaki, SAN, to study the judgment and report its findings.
However, Daily Trust reliably gathered that both the governors and the BoT have settled on Ude-Okoye as secretary and are exploring a diplomatic approach to ease out Anyanwu.
A party source said, “The governors are a powerful organ of the party, and I can tell you that, in line with other organs like the BoT and a majority of National Working Committee (NWC) members, they have decided on the way forward.
“All the governors were in Delta State, and none of them opposed the decision. Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum, who is an ally of Anyanwu, was also there, but he has yet to make any statement.
“Most NWC members have agreed that the party must move forward, and they are ready to follow the governors’ direction.”
BoT chair: Anyanwu should have waited
Reacting to the development, BoT Chairman and former Senate President Adolphus Wabara told Daily Trust that Anyanwu should have waited for the committee’s recommendations before resuming office.
“He has to wait for the position of the Board of Trustees,” Wabara said.
He, however, noted that the governors’ decision to recognise Ude-Okoye would not affect the BoT committee’s work.
“The decision of the governors’ forum to recognise Ude-Okoye will not affect what we are doing in the BoT committee. The committee is for the BoT, not the governors.
“Our work is not an investigation but an interpretation of the Court of Appeal judgment. That is why the committee is chaired by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) of over 24 years, who is also a BoT member.”
Before now, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had stated that the judgment in favour of Ude-Okoye was a declaratory ruling, which cannot be stayed.
Speaking on Anyanwu’s application for a stay of execution, Ologunagba said, “PDP will continue to do what is in the interest of the party, in accordance with the law and the constitution. The judgment granted is a declaratory judgment. That cannot be stayed. It’s clear.”
Efforts to get Ologunagba to comment on the latest development were unsuccessful.
Similarly, Ude-Okoye promised to respond to Daily Trust regarding Anyanwu’s resumption but had yet to do so at the time of filing this report.