The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to be sinking into deeper crisis as the party’s governors and the Board of Trustees (BoT), on Monday, backtracked on the Tuesday, May 27 date earlier fixed for the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
Rising from a joint meeting of in Abuja on Monday, neither the governors nor the BoT members that attended the meeting were willing to confirm if the NEC meeting would hold as scheduled.
Inquiries from anxious journalists who covered the joint meeting, held at the Bauchi State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, regarding the NEC meeting were cleverly avoided by the governors and the party elders.
When asked whether the meeting would still hold, the Acting PDP National Chairman, Umar Damagum, who attended the meeting, told journalists to wait till Tuesday to know whether the meeting would hold or not.
Prodded further by journalists, Damagum said the meeting had set up a committee to work on the way forward and that the decision on the NEC meeting would be made known by the said committee on Tuesday.
The chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Governor Bala Mohammed, also parried the question, as he sauntered towards his waiting car.
Other PDP governors who attended the meeting were Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Agbu Kefas (Taraba), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Peter Mbah (Enugu), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa) and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara). Governors Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom) and Douye Diri (Bayelsa) did not attend the meeting neither did they send their representatives.
BoT members at the meeting were Senator Adolphus Wabara (chairman), Bukola Saraki, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Babangida Aliyu, Prof Jerry Gana, Tanimu Turaki, SAN, Chief Olabode George, Ahmed Makarfi.
The party’s NEC meeting has suffered more than five postponements in the last one year as stakeholders failed to agree on how to resolve issues affecting the PDP.
One of the unresolved issues is that of the position of National Secretary, which is being contested by three individuals. The camp of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike is insisting on having Senator Samuel Anyanwu retained as National Secretary.
On the other hand, the governors and the BoT had initially favoured Sunday Udeh-Okoye for the position, but later settled for Setonji Kodoesho who is the incumbent Deputy National Secretary.
However, the South East stakeholders, led by the Enugu State Governor, Mbah, have threatened to dump the PDP if Udeh-Okoye is not recognised as National Secretary.
The May 27 date for the NEC meeting was fixed my the PDP Governors Forum way back in March and the date was adopted by the party’s Damagum-led National Working Committee (NWC).
But Anyanwu had in a notice on Sunday, stated that the NEC meeting had been put on hold indefinitely, a decision the Governors and the BoT have failed to upturn.
