The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took a different dimension on Wednesday, with some members of the National Working Committee, NWC, distancing themselves from the party’s Acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum.
This came a few hours after Damagum asked Senator Samuel Anyanwu to resume as the party’s National Secretary.
He equally said the 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for Monday, June 30, 2025, had been postponed.
But in a counter statement by some of the NWC members, they said Damagum was on his own.
Those who endorsed the statement included the Deputy National Chairman (South), Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, Acting National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, National Treasurer, Ahmed Yayari Mohammed, National Auditor, Okechukwu Obiechina Daniel, and National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, among others.
They are seen as those loyal to former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, while Anyanwu is an ally of Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike.
The NWC members said Damagum’s pronouncements were contrary to the resolution of the 99th NEC meeting, which scheduled the next NEC session for June 30 and referred all matters concerning the National Secretary’s office to that meeting.
“The pronouncements by the Acting National Chairman have no foundation as no organ of the Party (including the NWC), individual or group has the power to cancel, overrule, veto or vary the resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC),” the statement read.
Citing Section 31 (3) of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017), the NWC emphasized that NEC is the highest decision-making organ of the party after the National Convention and that its resolutions are binding on all members and organs of the party.
The NWC members described the announcement regarding Anyanwu’s resumption as “misleading” and reaffirmed that the matter remains under the jurisdiction of the forthcoming NEC meeting.