Members of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, have declared as null, void and of no effect, pronouncements made by the Acting National Chairman of the party, Illiya Damagum, canceling the 100th NEC meeting scheduled for 30th June 2025, and directing Senator Samuel Anyanwu to resume as National Secretary of the Party.
Chairman of the BoT, Adolphus Wabara in a press release said Damagum’s directives are in gross violation of the express provisions of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017).
“For the avoidance of doubt, the National Executive Committee (NEC) is the highest decision-making Organ of the Party, second only to the National Convention. By virtue of Section 31 (3) of the PDP Constitution, the resolution of the NEC at its 99th NEC meeting held on Tuesday, 27th May, 2025 to hold its 100th meeting on Monday, 30th June, 2025 is binding on all Organs and members of the PDP,” he said.
Wabara stressed that being a NEC decision, “no Organ, group or individual has the power or competence to cancel, adjust or postpone the 100th NEC meeting already scheduled by NEC to hold on Monday, 30th June, 2025”.
Constitutional breach
The BoT Chairman stated that the Acting National Chairman lacks the authority to override the collective decision of the NEC. “Such conduct amounts to an affront to the constitutional authority of NEC and the collective will of our Party”.
Reinstating Anyanwu as National Secretary
On the reinstatement of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary, Wabara said it was equally spurious and offensive to the spirit and letter of the PDP Constitution, the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment and the resolution of NEC.
“The decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) at its 600th meeting directing the Deputy National Secretary to act as National Secretary in accordance with the extant powers of the NWC remains valid, having not been set aside by the NWC or NEC. The attempt by Amb. Damagum to overturn that decision is a gross abuse of office.
“The Board of Trustees, being the conscience of the Party cannot stand idly by and watch the Party descend into chaos through acts of impunity, unilateralism and disregard for constitutional procedures,” he explained.
Resolutions
He lists the following as resolutions of the Board of Trustees.
1. The 100th NEC Meeting shall proceed as scheduled on Monday, 30th June, 2025. All members of NEC are duly advised to disregard any contradictory notice or statement regarding the 100th NEC meeting.
2. The Deputy National Secretary, Arc. Setonji Koshoedo remains the Acting National Secretary of the PDP pending any contrary decision formally taken and communicated by the appropriate Organ of the Party.
3. All party members are advised to be guided by the supremacy of the Constitution of the PDP, and resist any attempt to drag the party into avoidable crisis.
“The BoT reiterates that no individual interest is greater than the institutional integrity of the PDP. The BoT, as the moral compass of the party, will continue to defend due process, uphold Party supremacy and protect the democratic ethos upon which the PDP is founded”.
Damagum’s Pronouncements
It would be recalled that the PDP Acting National Chairman, Illiya Damagum, after a meeting between stakeholders of the party and INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and management of the commission, to follow the guidelines on the issuance of the notice for the NEC meeting addressed a press conference where he announced that “Anyanwu will resume as the National Secretary, describing it as a bitter pill for the party to swallow.
He also stated that “The leaders of the organs of the party will have an expanded caucus, so that we will discuss extensively the way forward to NEC. That would be on the 30th, we will issue the notice there is not going to be NEC, but an expanded caucus”.
Other Descending Voices
A group of leaders, comprising Deputy National Chairman (South) Taofeek Arapaja and other key members of the NWC, repudiated the position expressed by Damagum.
Eleven of the 19-member NWC, led by Arapaja, denounced the decision, saying that it contradicted the resolution of the 99th NEC that the Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, should act as Secretary.
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, chided Damagum for waiting for directives from the electoral commission before implementing the Supreme Court judgment that affirmed Anyanwu as secretary.
Confidence Okwuchi