UPDATED: PDP returns Anyanwu as national secretary

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reinstated Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the substantive National Secretary of the Party.

Speaking to journalists after the NEC meeting held in Abuja on Monday, the PDP acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, said the National Executive Committee (NEC) in session unanimously endorsed the return of Senator Anyanwu.

Damagum further revealed that the 101st NEC meeting has been scheduled for July 23 to finalise arrangements for the upcoming national convention.

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He said, “I am here to brief you on the outcome of our interaction with NEC as regards the National Secretary. We have all combined in one, we were all together, and we all agree that Senator Anyanwu will continue to act as National Secretary.”

Tribune Online learnt that the NEC resolved with the condition that the reinstated secretary would not penalise the staff he perceived to have acted against his interest in this whole drama.

“And also to bring the issue of the convention up in the next NEC, which is slated for the 23rd of next month. At that time, we will be able to convene a proper NEC, which I and Senator Anyanwu will sign, which is to fulfil the regulatory requirement of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in convening meetings.”

The meeting began at 4:36 pm over an hour and a half of it slated time for the event and ended at 5: 50 pm.

Before the NEC meeting, not less than five security trucks were strategically stationed around the party and manned by gun-wielding politicians.

Men and women of security agencies were posted within and outside the premises of the party to ward off any breakdown of law and order.

In his opening Remark, the Acting Chairman of the Party, Umar Damagum said the 100th NEC meeting which has been expanded would only consider one item.

At the end of the meeting which was attended by about 320 NEC members, the Damagum announced that the party has unanimously resolved and reinstated Sen. Samuel Anyanwu as the substantive National Secretary of the party bringing to a close the controversy over the legitimate occupant of the office which has dominated public space in recent time.

Damagum also said the Party would hold another NEC meeting on the 23rd of July, to discuss further the convention earlier slated for August.

According to Damagum “When the NOS was introducing accredited members, and you mentioned 100th NEC, I saw some people clapping. I want to use this opportunity to express to you that there was a thought before now that this meeting would be an extended caucus.

“So after due consultation with our leaders, the governors, leaders of other organs, we say for the synopsis, even though we have slated this NEC and we had challenges, but this is our own NEC.

“And this NEC is going to deliberate on only one item so that we don’t run foul of the regulators who are asking us to do this or that. It is in this NEC that we will discuss when to hold the second NEC per going to a convention most lawfully and profoundly.

“We will discuss that and we will issue the date when we conclude this meeting. I also want to take this opportunity to remind us that, as party faithful, we all have a responsibility to this party. The issue at hand, which has created considerable tension and division within us, has been discussed, and we have taken a stance.

“Unfortunately, the agreement to allow the National Secretary to step in which has been actually prompted by our meeting which will be discussed, I will leave that. But all the same, I’ve already said it. It was a painful decision.

“I will still use the opportunity to call on party faithful to stop arbitrarily the marketing of this party.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT), and Former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, described the hosting of the 100th and Expanded NEC as a miracle.

He pointed out that Many had expected that the PDP would have died due to the internal crises it has been buffeted with but with the hosting of the NEC meeting, the party has silenced the naysayers.

Wabara joined the meeting after the BOT meeting which it held at the Yar’adua Centre following the sealing of the NEC hall at the Wadata secretariat national headquarters of the PDP.

Efforts by the BOT members to gain entrance into the hall were rebuffed by the police who said they were acting on “order from above” to allow them access into the hall.

While addressing the NEC, Wabara thanked the party stakeholders for holding the NEC meeting in spite of the many challenges.

He further said “This party will never die. No matter what the detractors feel, we shall survive. The God of politics is in this party.

“What is happening here today will shock so many people. I am sure they will start planning again to bring problems. NWC, please don’t allow a crack anymore and we hope to take over power in 2027,” the former Senate President enthused.

For the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Sen. Bala Mohammed, the meeting was a miracle and a testament to the capacity of the PDP to manage her crises.

“This is a miracle of the PDP, a party that has history, the pedigree and the human capital to deliver Nigeria. We have been engrossed in controversies and challenges, not created by us, but created for us. And we have been navigating them, unlike the other parties.”

Bala said; “Irrespective of the manifestations and the perceptions out there, we are the party to beat. People living at the party are all cosmetics. They are all created to diminish us.

“But I must thank the leaders and all the organs of the party, especially the BOT, the caucuses of the National Assembly. But most importantly, my colleagues and the NWC, because everything we are doing, we are doing for the NWC. Today, I must tell the world that the NWC has collapsed, all differences.

“They met before this meeting. What you have been seeing in terms of press releases has stopped and you will not see them again. And that is what the BOT chairman is telling you.

“We are all on the same page. No excuse for coalition. No excuse to form any stakeholders meeting other than that of the NWC.

“We are solidly behind this NWC as governors and we will continue to work with the questions of the party and other organs of the party to make sure we succeed in having NEC. And all undertakers have been defeated.

Members of the BOT from the National Assembly, Sen. Abba Moro expressed satisfaction that the party has found harmony in spite of the contending issues.

He said that as a PDP member, he has told his legislative colleagues that they have maintained that “we will disappoint our doubters by working very hard to remain very strong. And it is our hope that at the end of this meeting the PDP will become stronger and more competitive going forward.”

On his part Hon. Kingsley Chinda said the members of the PDP in the Green chambers are abreast with the reality of conflicts within the party.

Therefore, it is a normal issue in politics “We have seen these things before. It’s normal routine. For all those who have left us in the past, you would testify that they did not last wherever they went to.

“They all came back to join us. And so what is happening today is also not new. We are getting close to the elections.

“But all we need to do is as a party, we must be more selfless and less selfish. Because as we get close to the elections, a lot will happen. But as politicians and as the mother of politics in Nigeria, I believe and we believe that the PDP will sail through.

He said all the associated melodrama before the NEC meeting was just a steam in the teacup “It is a mere turbulence. You saw the PDP magic today. That magic has just started. It will continue”, he said.

The 100th NEC meeting has been marked by a series of controversies as the issue of the authentic secretary led to a division within the National Working Committee of the party and extended to other organs of the party.

However, at the expanded national executive council meeting, the party through the Acting Chairman told members to stop demarketing the party and face the ultimate challenge of winning the 2027 general elections.

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