PDP crisis: Why govs, BoT are after me – Sen. Anyanwu
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As the leadership crisis rocking the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues unabated, the embattled National Secretary of the party, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has disclosed that those who want him out, are the forces bent on making the party weak ahead of the 2027 general election.
He said that those forces are holding on to his relationship with the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike and want to use the opportunity to create more crisis in the party ahead of the 2027 general election for their selfish purpose.
The National Secretary over the weekend said that one of his sins was his insistence on due process and respect for the rule of law in party administration.
Speaking with some journalists, he said that some of the party’s leaders from his zone (South East) consider him a stumbling block to their political ambitions, part of which include taking over the party structure.
He said, “I was validly nominated and elected as National Secretary of this great party at a national convention, and our constitution clearly spells out how a person occupying positions in the National Working Committee can be replaced if the need arises.
“I took time off to contest for the governorship of my state, and the Deputy National Secretary acted while I was away. Our constitution gives me the power to delegate functions to my deputy.
“It was strange that while I was campaigning, some people went as far as forging documents by illegally altering our party guidelines and inserted a clause that is not in the original document to say I must resign. The police is investigating I won’t say much on that.
“Everybody knows my relationship with (Chief Nyesom) Wike. We were local government chairmen and members of the PDP; I cannot deny him.”
Anyanwu accused some of the party’s governors of working in cohorts with a section of the Board of Trustees (BoT) in pursuit of an agenda to weaken the party for selfish gains.
He noted that the advice of both bodies that Sunday Udeh-Okoye be immediately sworn in as the substantive National Secretary, following a Court of Appeal judgement was simply “a proxy war.”
The PDP leadership has been split in two by Wike’s loyalists as well as those of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Trouble started soon after the party’s 2023 presidential primary, in which Atiku defeated Wike.
Wike’s supporters, about four of his then fellow governors, felt betrayed with the way things went and decided to undermine Atiku’s presidential run.
The dispute degenerated further over a fallout between Wike and his successor, Rivers State Governor Siminalaye Fubara.
Anyanwu and the party’s acting national chairman, Umar Damagum, are believed to be sympathetic to Wike’s cause and have been the subject of relentless attacks by those opposed to them.
Anyanwu advised those who want him out to wait until the expiration of his tenure in December, 2025, to contest for the position during the party’s national convention.
Recall, the PDP Governors Forum had, during their monthly meeting in Asaba, Delta State, endorsed Udeh-Okoye as National Secretary.
They based their decision on an Enugu Court of Appeal judgment recognising Udeh-Okoye as the bonafide occupant of the position of National Secretary.
