UPDATED: NEC will hold as scheduled — PDP

• BoT set to meet ahead NEC • Wabara rallies stakeholders

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Sunday, said its 100th National Executive Committee will hold today as scheduled at the 99th NEC held weeks ago. The party advised its members to ignore a purported notice insinuating that the meeting has been postponed.

The Deputy National Chairman (South) of PDP, Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, gave the assurance when he addressed the press on the activities of the party concerning the NEC meeting statutorily scheduled for today and the National Convention scheduled for between August 28 and 30 later this year.

He declared that the NEC meeting would, among other things, receive updates on the activities of the zoning committee and the National Convention Organizing Committee. He recalled that the decision to hold the 100th meeting was unanimously scheduled by NEC at its 99th meeting held on Tuesday, 27th May, 2025.

“By virtue of Section 31(3) of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017), the Monday, 30th June, 2025 date for the 100th NEC meeting is binding on all Organs and members, and as such no Organ, group or officer of the party has the power to alter, change, vary, veto or convert the already convened NEC meeting.

Contrary to a purported notice being circulated in the social media suggesting that the 100th NEC meeting has been converted to a Special Expanded National Caucus meeting, the NWC states in clear terms that the said notice did not emanate from the PDP and should be disregarded.

“The NWC emphasises that there is no provision whatsoever for an ‘Expanded National Caucus’ in the Constitution of the PDP or any guideline of the party.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 30 of the Constitution of the PDP is unambiguous in providing for a National Caucus for the party with its composition, functions and meetings clearly spelt out, leaving no room for any form of expansion.

“The suggestion, proposal or announcement for a ‘Special Expanded National Caucus meeting’ is therefore unconstitutional and cannot take any decision for the PDP being not a recognized organ or body in the PDP.

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“The PDP is a political party built on the foundation and pedestal of strict adherence to the rule of law, guided by the due process of our party constitution and the ethos of internal democracy, which values must be protected and preserved at all time,” Arapaja said.

He added that for the avoidance of doubt, the National Working Committee (NWC) assures all party members that the 100th NEC meeting will proceed as scheduled tomorrow, Monday, 30th June, 2025 at the NEC Hall of the Wadata Plaza, PDP National Secretariat, Abuja.

The NWC acknowledges the support and solidarity of the members of the PDP and reassures that the 100th NEC meeting will hold as scheduled by NEC.

A meeting of members of the BoT of the PDP is scheduled for 10am today in Abuja before the 100th NEC session. The Chairman of the BoT of PDP and former President of the Senate, Senator Adolphus Wabara, at the weekend communicated the planned meeting to other members of the body that comprises elders and leaders of thought in the main opposition party in the country.

One of the elders of PDP and member of the board, Chief Olabode George, who confirmed the spirited efforts being made by Wabara, informed the Nigerian Tribune and added that the former President of the Senate had in the last couple of days rallied other concerned PDP stalwarts for the meeting.

The former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP said he would be attending the scheduled meeting for 10am in the Federal Capital.

Two camps have been at each other’s throat over the position of National Secretary, with two claimants — Samuel Anyanwu and Sunday Udeh-Okoye — at the centre of the controversy.

The decision of the Acting National Secretary of PDP to reinstate Senator Anyanwu by 11 members of the National Working Committee (NWC) was quickly countered.

The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Honourable Debo Ologunagba, said in a telephone chat with the Nigerian Tribune on Sunday that the coast is clear for the 100th NEC meeting, adding that a correspondence between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which confirmed that the electoral body has not objected to the operation of the Acting National Secretary has cleared the way.

At the last meeting, the decision was that the acting secretary should continue to hold the position and the letter by INEC to the NWC has cleared any doubt.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune on Sunday, Chief George, who is a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, explained that the meetings of the BoT and caucus of the PDP usually precede that of NEC. He said the gathering of the main decision-making organ of the party scheduled for June 30 by the critical stakeholders of PDP is important in the quest for sanity in the former ruling party.

He said those who had been playing either hide and seek or openly worked against the party were free to leave the PDP, claiming that their antecedents were largely responsible for its current predicament.

“If there is no meeting, we can’t do anything. NEC has the final authority. No individual can usurp the power and authority of NEC as provided in the PDP Constitution.

“If they want to leave, let them go. I’m not surprised they are planning to leave because they brought about the crisis in the PDP. Their past is haunting them. So, BoT chairman is rallying everybody for the meeting,” he said.

I stand by the position of S’East, NWC, BOT on NEC — Nat Secretary-Gov Mbah

Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State says he fully stands by the position of the National Working Committee (NWC), the Board of Trustees (BoT), and South-East Zonal Executive Committee (ZEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the crisis rocking the party.

Mbah also expressed support for the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party scheduled for Monday, June 30, saying that while he was still a member of the PDP, he was “simply fed up with the shenanigans that have more or less made the party an endless circus.”

The governor, who made his position known to newsmen after a closed-door meeting with Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State; Senator Wabara; and the South-East Zonal Chairman of the party, Chief Ali Odefa, among others, at the Government House, Enugu on Sunday, equally maintained that the position of the South-East ZEC of the PDP to review its future with the party if its stand on the issue of the National Secretary was not honoured remained sacrosanct.

“For the record, just as I stated during my interactive session with Fellows and Members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Enugu at the weekend, while I am still a member of the PDP, the South-East — and that includes me — reserves the right to review our continued membership of the party if the party is unwilling to put its house in order.

“That was invariably the position adopted during our last South-East Zonal meeting held here in Enugu. During that meeting, the caucus noted that the party should not disregard the zone’s stand regarding the National Secretary position.

“To all intents and purposes, this has obviously not been the case. So, there is no doubt as to where I stand on the matter.

“The position of the South-East with respect to the National Secretaryship of the party as issued in that communique is sacrosanct,” he stated.

Other PDP chieftains at the meeting included a former National Chairman of the party and BoT member, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo; Senator Sam Egwu, Iyom Josephine Anenih, Senator Ben Obi, and Udeh-Okoye, among others.

The decision to host the 100th NEC was taken at the party’s 99th NEC where issues around its internal crises were raised. The 99th NEC meeting had pronounced a meeting for 30th June to deliberate on these critical issues impacting on the wellbeing of the party — a condition a former Benue State governor, Senator Gabriel Suswam, likened to a patient in an intensive care.