PDP crisis: Why they want to force me out – Anyanwu
The embattled National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has given insights into why certain party leaders were hell-bent on forcing him out of office.
Anyanwu told Vanguard that he was being targeted for his insistence on due process, respect for the rule of law, and his long-standing personal relationship with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike.
According to him, 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.
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.
The BoT soon followed with their support for the position taken by the governors.
Members of the BoT took their decision after adopting the report of a committee they had set up to examine the claims being made by both Anyanwu and Ude-Okoye.
The committee, which was chaired by. Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), recommended that Udeh-Okoye be sworn in immediately based on the court judgment.
