Akpabio Mocks PDP Leaders As Party’s BoT Backs Udeh-Okoye As Secretary

It was a humiliating experience on Wednesday for senators elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Senate’s plenary session.

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, poked fun at the party’s leaders when he threatened to set up an ad hoc committee of the Senate to look into the leadership crisis rocking the main opposition party.

Akpabio’s deliberate mockery, aimed at the party’s leaders, was triggered by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro’s assertion, that Senator Samuel Anyanwu remained the authentic National Secretary of the PDP.

Recall that the PDP Governors, at a meeting in Asaba, the Delta State capital last Friday, had recognised Mr Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the party’s National Secretary. The governors had also directed the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to accord Udeh-Okoye recognition as National Secretary.

Senator Moro’s assertion contradicted the position of the PDP Governors, highlighting the deepening schisms within the party. The division becomes obvious because Moro is the leader of the PDP Caucus in the National Assembly. The Caucus is made up of all senators and members of the House of Representatives elected on the platform of the PDP.

In a mocking tone, Akpabio derisively sought to know from Senator Moro who the PDP Governors recognised as the party’s National Secretary, a question Moro tactically parried.

Responding to futile attempts by Moro to debunk reports of divisions in the PDP, Akpabio, sounding sarcastic, threatened to set up an ad hoc committee of the Senate to look into the crisis plaguing the PDP, a statement that drew derisive laughter from senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) present at the plenary.

The drama followed the official consummation of the defection of the senator representing Delta North, Ned Nwoko from the PDP to the APC.

In his defection letter, read on the floor by Akpabio, Nwoko cited divisions in the PDP for his defection and urged the Senate President to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the crisis rocking the opposition party.

Speaking earlier, Nwoko said, “In view of this, I urge the Senate to take this matter seriously by setting up an Ad-Hoc committee to investigate the crisis within the PDP and recommend a way forward to safeguard our democracy. This committee should examine the root causes of the party’s internal implosion, engage relevant stakeholders, and propose reforms that will ensure the survival of a viable opposition in Nigeria.”

And while the drama was ongoing in the Senate, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP was met at a different location in Abuja where they affirmed their support for Udeh-Okoye as National Secretary. The BoT is in synch with the PDP Governors, while Moro differed on the matter.

A communique signed by the BoT chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, the body said its position was informed by a report of a committee it set up to look into the disagreements on the position of National Secretary.

The communique read in part, “The BoT, in exercise of its constitutional powers, received, exhaustively considered and hereby adopts the report of its committee led by Barr. Kabiru Tanimu Turaki SAN, on the issue of the National Secretary of the PDP, especially with regard to the declarative judgment of the High Court of Enugu as upheld by the Court of Appeal.

“Consequently, the BoT, by adopting the report, recognises Hon. Sunday 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 charges the National Working Committee (NWC) to recognise and immediately swear in Hon. Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the National Secretary of the PDP in obedience to the Judgment of the Court of Appeal.

“The BoT urges all party organs, critical stakeholders, leaders and members across the country as well as all democracy development partners and institutions to be guided by the judgment of the Court of Appeal with regard to the position of the National Secretary of the PDP.

“The BoT commends the PDP Governors’ Forum, the National Working Committee, South East Executive Committee and all other organs of the Party for their steadfastness in upholding the provisions of the Constitution and operational Guidelines of the PDP.”