Despite the bold decision taken at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headed by former President of the Senate Adolphus Wabara, to back Honourable Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the national secretary of the party as earlier resolved by the PDP Governors Forum, questions still hang over who calls the shots as the party’s secretary.
Senator Sam Anyanwu, who earlier left the position to contest the Imo State governorship election in 2023, is standing firm as the rightful occupant of the seat, despite the decision of the South East leadership of the party to endorse Udeh-Okoye as the new National Secretary.
PDP leaders from the South East zone had in a communique made public on Februaty 21, 2024, insisted on the choice of Udeh-Okoye as Anyanwu’s replacement.
But the development is already taking its toll on the party, as it led to fisticuffs on the premises of its national secretariat two weeks ago. Aside that, it was understood that some lawmakers might want to exploit the development to defect from the party while justifying their decision on the fulfillment of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, which recognises division in the political party as a basis for which a defecting lawmaker can justify his action.
Last week, the senator representing Delta North senatorial district on the platform of the party, Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, announced his decision to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a result of crisis in the PDP.
However, the BoT at its meeting on Wednesday last week in Abuja categorically stated its decision to back Udeh-Okoye as the new national secretary of the party.
The decision, according to BoT chairman, Wabara was sequel to the ruling of the high court of Enugu and a further affirmation of that ruling by the Court of Appeal.
“Consequently, the BoT, by adopting the report, recognises Honourable Udeh-Okoye as the substantive national Secretary of the PDP, in full obedience to the declaratory judgment of the high court of Enugu as also upheld by the Court of Appeal, there being no contrary or overriding judgment from any court of superior jurisdiction,” the BoT stated in its communique.
But Senator Anyanwu, the claimant to the post of the party’s national secretary, had insisted on retaining his position.
He said that the matter was before the Court of Appeal and that the intervention of the Governors’ Forum and the BoT was ultra vires.
A number of party leaders have continued to question Anyanwu’s insistence to hold on to the position, notwithstanding that he contested the party’s primaries in respect of the November 2023 governorship election in Imo.
According to Anyanwu, the law requires that all parties to a suit must maintain existing structure until the substantive case is determined.
“The governors cannot claim ignorance of this position of the law, before issuing their statement which runs in conflict with the court decision,” he said.
Facts of the matter
Senator Anyanwu had on April 12, 2023 emerged the candidate of the PDP in Imo State ahead of the governorship election held on November 11, 2023. He, however, lost the election to incumbent governor Hope Uzodimma, who secured his second term in office.
However, Anyanwu has found his way back to the PDP secretariat and has continued to insist on being the sustantive national secretary, despite the decision of the South-East leadership of the party to anoint Udeh-Ikoye as his replacement.
Anyanwu’s position, which he is currently being tested in court, is in contention with not just the party’s constitution as amended in 2017, but the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Section 36(1)(a-h) of the PDP Constitution established the office of National Secretary of the party, and makes it the custodian of the day-to-day activities of the party.
As provided in Section 45(3) of the PDP Constitution in case the National Secretary resigns his office, he shall hand over to the Deputy National Secretary.
Anyanwu’s position and the law
Bearing in mind that the provisions of Section 137(1) (f) of the 1999 Constitution, which mandates anyone seeking to contest the position of governor of a state to have resigned at least 30 days to the date of the election, the question Anyanwu is to answer is whether he did not comply with that section to qualify himself for the November 2023 electoral contest in Imo, where he contested the governorship seat of Imo State on the ticket of the PDP.
Party leaders have said that those backing Anyanwu must also answer the question whether the Senator did not comply with the provisions of Section 45(3) of the PDP Constitution as stated above, which mandates a national secretary to hand over to his deputy when he is resigning from office.
A source said that while Anyanwu was free to await the final verdict of the Supreme Court on the contentions he was raising, the party expects him to obey the declarative judgments of the high court and the Court of Appeal first.
“If he wins in the Supreme Court, he can reclaim the seat but he should not be seen to be obstructing the ruling of the appellate court,” an elder of the party said.
In a ruling related to the type of contention being raised by Anyanwu, Justice Anyadike, of the Federal High Court in the suit marked FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, had held that the 1999 Constitution in Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f), and 182(1)(f), prescribed that candidates seeking elections into the National Assembly, the House of Assembly of a state, the position of governor and the president of Nigeria must resign not later than 30 days to the date of the election.
The constitution of the various political parties also toes the same pattern by having provision that clearly indicate that a candidate seeking elective office must resign 30 days to the date of the election and must attach a copy of the resignation letter to his application form.
The camp of Senator Anyanwu is, however, said to be relying on the provisions of Section 47(5) of the PDP Constitution to seek a leeway.
The section states that: “Any officer elected into the Executive Committee of the party at any level may resign his or her office by giving thirty days notice in writing to the appropriate Executive Committee, except in the case of resignation for the purpose of vying for an elective office, which shall be effective within the period stipulated in the guideline issued for such elective office by the National Executive Committee of the party or the State Executive Committee in respect of local government elections.”
It was gathered that the Imo senator is hinging his argument on the strength of the above section, to insist that he could still hold on to the National Secretary position.
A party leader who does not want to be named, however stated that the said provision of the party’s constitution does not indicate that someone vying for the office of the governor of a state should not comply with Section 137(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution.
“The section of the constitution states clearly that to qualify to contest the governorship election, senator Anyanwu must have resigned his office not later than 30 days to the date of the election,” the party leader said.
It was also gathered that the BoT, which last week sealed the decision of the PDP Governors Forum to nail Anyanwu, took the decision based on legal interpretations provided by a former Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki.
The BoT had last week recognised Udeh-Okoye as the substantive national secretary and asked the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to immediately swear him into the office in obedience to the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
According to the BoT, the resolution reached at its emergency meeting in Abuja, followed an exhaustive consideration and deliberation of the report of Barrister Barr. Kabiru Tanimu Turaki’s committee, while it also commended the PDP Governors’ Forum, the NWC, South-East Executive Committee and all other party organs for upholding the party’s constitution and operational Guidelines on the matter.
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