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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have resolved its leadership crisis at the national level. However, the tussle for supremacy among party leaders, ahead of the 2027 general election, has shifted to the South-East and South -South zonal chapters of the opposition party.
The conflict is a continuation of the supremacy battle between opposition governors and loyalists of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. Recall that, since the 2023 polls, the PDP governors and Wike have been locked in different battles over control of the party.
The bone of contention is the control of party structures at the zonal levels and some states in the South-East and South-South. Although there are pockets of crisis in some other PDP states across the country, the South-East and South-South, are the only zones where there are factions laying claim to leadership.
For instance, in the South-East, the party is divided between the National Vice chairman (South-East), Ali Odefa, and Chidiebere Egwu. Egwu was appointed by Ali’s adversaries in the zone as his replacement after the latter was “sacked” by his ward in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Similarly, in the South-South, party leaders are torn between the chairman of the zonal caretaker committee, Elder Emma Ogidi, and Chief Dan Orbih, who was elected as national vice chairman at a convention organised by some PDP stakeholders loyal to Wike in the zone.
While the Odefa-led South-East executive enjoys the support of the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, the Egwu-led group is backed by Wike’s men in the zone. Similarly, in the South-South, the Zonal Caretaker Committee has the support of the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, while Wike is strongly rooting for the Orbih faction.
The South-East imbroglio
The crisis in the South-East PDP started as a disagreement among party chiefs in Ebonyi State. It later snowballed into a major crisis with the alleged suspension and expulsion of Odefa by his ward in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. In no time, Odefa’s membership of the party became a subject of litigation, with two different courts of coordinate jurisdiction giving conflicting judgments on the issue.
The crisis exacerbated during the tussle for the national secretary position in the party. Odefa had presided over the nomination of former national youth leader, Sunday Udeh Okoye, as national secretary to replace Senator Samuel Anyanwu; after the latter emerged as PDP candidate in the last Imo State governorship poll.
Apparently, in retaliation for Odefa’s alleged role in the national secretary tussle, which has since been resolved in favour of Anyanwu, his loyalists appointed Egwu his replacement. The party scribe had accused him of being the architect of the crisis over the national secretary position.
Daily Sun’schecks revealed that, apart from the crisis in the South-East chapter, all the PDP state chapters in the zone, apart from Enugu, are also embroiled in a leadership crisis. In the South-South there are still wranglings in the Edo and Bayelsa states chapters.
Like South-East, Like South-South
For the South-South, trouble started in February after the expiration of the tenure of the Zonal Working Committee, led by Orbih. After the expiration of tenure, the PDP, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, dated February 20, put on hold the conduct of a zonal congress to allow for further consultation. However, on February 22, some party stakeholders organised a zonal congress, in Calabar, where they elected Orbih as national vice chairman. The Calabar congress, which was attended by Wike, was boycotted by all the PDP governors in the zone.
Nonetheless, the national secretariat refused to recognise the exercise and appointed a caretaker committee with a former national vice chairman of the party in the zone, Elder Emma Ogidi, as chairman. The acting national chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum, while inaugurating the committee, noted that no zonal congress had been held in the South-South zone.
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“I want to use this opportunity to tell us that there was no election as far as this party is concerned, in the South-South. I have to make this clear, because the tenure of the zonal committee has expired and we still have a few weeks or a month or so to do the zonal congresses. So, we find it necessary to come up with this caretaker committee,” Damagum posited.
Since then, leaders of the PDP in the South-South have been working at cross purposes, with the Orbih group announcing parallel structures in the Edo and Bayelsa states chapters of the opposition party. Nonetheless, the deputy national youth leader, Timothy Osadolor, who is from Edo State, insists that there is no crisis in the South-South PDP.
Osadolor told Daily Sun that “there was never a crisis in my zone. Outside the defection of the governors of Delta and Akwa Ibom.” He dismissed the appointment of parallel executives in Edo and Bayelsa states as a nullity, noting that, “If, for instance, I wake up tomorrow and say I am forming a parallel government to that of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, does that make me legitimate, because I am a Nigerian?”
Renewed hostilities
In the run-up to the PDP National Convention scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the leadership tussle in the two zones is once again on the front burner in the opposition party, as the gladiators continue to push for dominance.
For instance, Wike, during a recent media chat, insisted that the PDP leadership must recognise the zonal congress as well as de-recognise Odefa as the national vice chairman (South-East), ahead of the convention. According to him, “Our South-South zonal congress that was held must be upheld. There are no two ways about it. If they want another round of crisis, so be it. That congress must be upheld. The South-East congress, which produced Ali Odefa, cannot stand. Ali Odefa, the court affirmed, is no longer a member of the party.”
Ologunagba, in response, said the opposition party is committed to uniting all its members, as politics is not a zero-sum game, it will not accept conditions from anyone. According to him, “PDP has not, and will not even take conditions from anybody. We have a South-South Zonal Caretaker Committee and they’ve been functioning as such.”
Nonetheless, the Wike camp, in a communique after a meeting in Abuja on Monday night, demanded the conduct of fresh congresses in Ebonyi and Anambra states, as well as in the South-East chapter, and the recognition of a South-South zonal congress held in Calabar, Cross River State, last February, among others. The group, which includes Ayo Fayose, Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, former governors of Ekiti, Benue, Abia and Enugu states, respectively, warned that failure by the PDP to comply with their demands “shall render any purported national convention invalid, as legitimate members of the party would be disenfranchised.”
However, the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, while speaking at the inauguration of the party’s National Convention Committee, said the governors are in support of NWC and would not allow anyone to derail the party.
According to him, “the time has come when we must flex our muscles. We are not cowards, and we are not afraid of anybody. We are capable of navigating this party beyond the shenanigans, beyond the arrogance, and beyond the impunity of others. We cannot continue to keep quiet and allow people to take us to the slaughterhouse. That’s their job. And our job is to make sure we don’t go to the slaughterhouse… Yes, consensus. Yes, accommodation. But accommodation cannot mean stupidity.”
Analysts say the power tussle in the South- East and South -South zonal chapters is further diminishing the prospects of the opposition party in the two zones. The fortunes of the PDP have diminished significantly in the two zones, which used to be a fortress of the party, in recent times. Recently, Delta State governor, Sheriff Oborevbori, and his Akwa Ibom counterpart, Umo Eno defected to the All Progressives Congress with members of the state and national assemblies. The plight of the opposition party in the two zones is further compounded by alleged overtures to the other governors in the zone by the APC to cross over to the ruling party.
Therefore, from controlling eight out of the 11 states in the two zones, in 2015, when the PDP lost power at the centre, the opposition now controls only three states, in the area. Pundits say the current crisis in the zones, if not quickly resolved, may impact negatively on the PDP in the march to the 2027 polls.
No doubt, the gloves are fully off in the battle for the control of the South -East and South- South PDP. While it is expected that party elders would make efforts to resolve the issues, the questions are: will the Wike camp backtrack from their demands? Will the PDP governors succumb? Or will both groups find a middle ground in the overall interest of the opposition party? It seems only time will tell.
