• S’South, S’East as battleground for 2027 • We’re guided by rule of law—Ologunagba

 

 

From Adetutu Folasade-Koyi, Abuja

Ahead of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), power blocs are tightening their grip on the party.

The PDP NEC meeting is scheduled to hold on May 27.

Sunday Sun reliably gathered at the weekend that supporters of the FCT Minister,  Nyesom Wike, are digging in and are insisting that,  for there to be peace in the party, the leadership must retain Senator Sam Anyanwu and Dan Osi Orbih as national secretary and national vice chairman, South-south, respectively.

On May 4, sitting and former governors, including the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Wike, reportedly met in Lagos, to chart a way forward for the party.

The Lagos meeting was a precursor to an expanded meeting of the party, which held in Abuja, on Sunday, May 11; at the Bauchi State Government Lodge in Asokoro District of the FCT.

A surprise attendee at the meeting was the FCT Minister Wike, which also included the acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, former governors of Benue and Kaduna, Gabriel Suswan and Ahmed Makarfi, among others.

At the Lagos meeting, informal talks revolved around the political debacle in Rivers, as well as the logjam over the South-south zonal leadership.

The South-south is now divided as there exists two excos for the zone.

Orbih was re-elected as the zonal chairman during the party’s zonal congress in Calabar, Cross River State, on February 22, 2025 and 19 days after, the PDP responded to the Calabar congress when it inaugurated the Chief Emmanuel Ogidi-led South-South Zonal Caretaker Committee at the party headquarters in Abuja.

Two days before the Orbih-led congress, the PDP, speaking through its National Publicity Secretary, Dele Ologunagba, postponed the South-south zonal congress. Ologunagba said the party would announce a new date for the congress.

Damagum had insisted  that the party had yet to conduct a congress for the zone.

This set the tone for the May 11 meeting in Abuja.

Against this backdrop and the persistent crises in the party, at the Abuja meeting, last week, a source in Wike’s camp told Sunday Sun that the minister reportedly laid two cards on the table: retention of Anyanwu as the national secretary as well as recognition of the new South South zonal executive led by Orbih.

Another party source privy to the meeting added, “the minister tabled those conditions and nobody countered him during the meeting.”

The source also claimed that “the conditions have already been communicated to the National Working Committee…”

S/S, S/E as battleground

A PDP source at the party’s national headquarters equally offered insight into the crises in the Southeast and the South-south chapters and the alleged role of two PDP governors in the festering crises.

He said: “The party is in crosshairs over who to recognise as the national secretary. Remember the Supreme Court decision?

“Well, to forge a way forward, the National Working Committee agreed on April 29 that Setonji Koshoedo should be allowed to act as the national secretary, but there’s a legal hurdle to scale; even with that decision.

“After the May 11 meeting, even after the NWC had appointed Koshoedo as acting national secretary, the South East caucus is still insisting on Ude-Okoye when the party has not taken a decision. That’s a breach of agreement. Now, the court would have to determine the matter for the party…”

Legal fireworks in South South zonal leadership tussle

Another party source disclosed how two PDP governors in South-south reportedly hijacked the congress even before it was convened.

“A governor in the South-south hijacked the nomination process when he paid for all the forms for the positions in the zone and appropriated them, through a first term governor.

“When that move leaked, Orbih made frantic efforts to meet with the governor, but he was rebuffed. Wike’s camp had to procure fresh nomination forms from Abuja. The governor who hijacked the nomination forms insisted that, since he’s the most senior elected official in the zone, his state must produce the zonal chairman.

“When that arrangement leaked, the governor who was used as proxy to buy the forms in Abuja was contacted but he directed Orbih to call the governor as he was only asked to pick the forms and warehouse them until he returned from his trip abroad,” the source said.

Nothing came out of interventions by the party.

He added: “A member of the PDP NWC prevailed on the governor to release the forms as he had no official capacity to be in possession of the forms. All appeals hit a brickwall. That was the genesis of the logjam we have in the party and in the South-south; even as at today…”

South-south exco logjam is now in court.

A national ex-officer and member of the PDP in Bayelsa State, Daniel Christian, in suit no: FHC/PHC/CS/96/2025 has dragged INEC, Damagum, Orbih and one Solomon Agwanana (representing other members of the dissolved Bayelsa State Working Committee) before Justice Adamu Turaki Mohammed of the Port Harcourt division of the Federal High Court. The case is due for hearing on May 29.

PDP responds

Meanwhile, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, has reiterated that the party would be guided by “rule and order.”

Asked to respond to reports that Wike gave conditions for peace to return to the party, Ologunagba said:

“I was not at that meeting you are talking about. And so, I can’t say for sure what was discussed.

“But, we are a party governed by rule and order. And so, we can only do things that are in line with our rules.”