By Luminous Jannamike & Chinedu Adonu

ENUGU— THE South East zone of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, threatened to leave the party in droves if the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, fails to recognise Mr. Sunday Ude-Okoye as its National Secretary.

This came on a day when 83 staff members at the PDP national headquarters declared their support for the party’s efforts to restore stability amid an ongoing leadership crisis surrounding the position of National Secretary.

The dispute between Senator Samuel Anyanwu and Mr. Udeh-Okoye has led to prolonged litigation, violent disruptions at the party secretariat and damaging narratives, raising fears of a potential split within the party.

On March 21, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that disputes over party leadership fall within the internal affairs of political parties and dismissed the rulings of lower courts. Although Senator Anyanwu claimed the judgment was in his favour, the PDP National Working Committee, NWC, reaffirmed Mr. Udeh Okoye as the substantive National Secretary.

To maintain unity, the PDP Governors’ Forum recommended that Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, serve in acting capacity until a substantive candidate is appointed.

However, at the end of the South East Zonal Executive Committee, ZEC, meeting held at the Government House in Enugu State, the leaders, in a communique, threatened to leave the party if they were not allowed to present the candidate to serve out the remaining tenure of the National Secretary of the party zoned to the region.

The communique by its South East Zonal Chairman, Chief Ali Odefa, said: “The South East Zonal Executive Committee, ZEC, of the PDP met at the Government House, Enugu in Enugu State, to deliberate on the issue of the Office of the National Secretary of the party.

“Today’s (yesterday’s) meeting was, therefore, convened by this directive. Rising from the meeting, the ZEC resolved to issue the following communique:

“The South East ZEC exhaustively deliberated on the directive of the NWC and concluded that it offered a sure pathway to peace, unity, stability, and progress of our party. Consequently, the ZEC unanimously recommended Udeh-Okoye as the candidate to complete the term of office of the National Secretary. The South East has consistently served as a stronghold of the PDP from its inception.

“Therefore, we hope that this time around, the position of the South East PDP regarding the Office of the National Secretary is accorded the honour and immediacy it deserves.

“This would bring to a close the needless lingering dispute over the matter. However, if our position is not promptly implemented by the Party, the South East PDP, as a family, will be compelled to reconsider our relationship with the PDP going forward.”

No sacrifice too high for PDP’s stability—83 party staff

Meanwhile, 83 staff members at the national headquarters of the PDP, who spoke through its Director of Administration, Alhaji Gurama Bawa, pledged their loyalty to the party’s internal processes and called for cohesion.

Bawa, in a statement, said: “The management and staff of the National Secretariat are deeply concerned that in the past year, the PDP has been engulfed in very disturbing leadership issues.

“We believe that the NWC’s directive for Mr Setonji Koshoedo to serve as Acting National Secretary is in the overall interest of the stability of our party.”

They also urged acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, to ensure that the National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting scheduled for May 27, 2025, proceeds as planned to resolve the crisis.

Anyone can write to us, but… — INEC

However, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, declared that it has not decided on the Supreme Court judgment regarding the office of the PDP National Secretary.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, who spoke with Vanguard, insisted that INEC has not decided on the content of such letters.