PDP Crisis: Of S’East Leaders’ Threat to Quit Party

PDP may have itself to blame if the impending mass exit from the party as threatened by the South East leaders of the party at a recent Zonal Executive Committee meeting happens, writes Deji Elumoye.

The troubles ravaging the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a dramatic turn for the worse last week when leaders of the party from the South East geo-political zone threatened to review the zone’s relationship with the party. At the centre of the rage was the position of the National Secretary zoned to the region.

The leaders of the party in the zone had in October, 2023 nominated Hon. Sunday Udeh-Okoye to serve out what they see as the remaining tenure of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who vacated office to fly the party’s flag in the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Imo state. They insisted that by the party’s constitution and convention, there was no way Anyanwu could return to office as National Secretary.

However, Anyanwu, and his alleged enablers, notably the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), NyesomWike, are of the view that whereas it was moral for Anyanwu to have exited the office, there was nothing in the PDP Constitution barring him from returning to the  Office of the National Secretary after losing the Imo election.

The ensuing legal tussle ended at the Supreme Court, which held that the issue of PDP’s leadership was an internal affair of the party, hence outside the jurisdiction of the court and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). But the crisis appears to be far from being over.

Therefore, rising from the South East Zonal Executive Committee (ZEC) meeting of PDP attended by top party leaders, including Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, who is the only PDP governor in the region; Zonal Chairman of the party, Chief Ali Odefa; the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and former President of the Senate, Senator Adolphus Wabara; the two PDP senators from the zone – Senate Minority Whip, Senator OsitaNgwu and Senator Augustine Akobundu; former governors IfeanyiUgwuanyi, Sam Egwu, AchikeUdenwa, the region left no one in doubt that it was no longer ready to dilly-dally with the party.

The meeting’s communique presented by Odefa reads, “It is recalled that on March 21, 2025, the Supreme Court brought to a close the protracted legal tussle over the position of the National Secretary of the PDP. The apex court, in its ruling, held that the issue of the leadership of a political party was the internal affairs of such a party and that the courts and INEC had no jurisdiction and ought not to interfere.

“Following the consideration of the report of the panel it set up to review the Supreme Court judgment, the PDP Governors’ Forum, at its April 14, 2025 meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State, recommended that the South East PDP should nominate a candidate, who would serve out the remaining tenure of the National Secretary of the Party zoned to the region.

“In adopting the PDP Governors’ Forum’s recommendation, the NWC during its 600th Meeting held at the Party’s National Headquarters, Wadata Plaza, Wuse, Abuja, on April 29, 2025 directed the South East ZEC of our party to nominate a candidate for the Office of the National Secretary, accordingly.

“Today’s meeting was therefore convened in accordance with this directive. The South East ZEC exhaustively deliberated on the directive of the NWC and came to the conclusion that it offered a sure pathway to peace, unity, stability, and progress of our party. Consequently, the ZEC unanimously recommended Hon. Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the candidate to complete the term of office of the National Secretary.

“We also urge the NWC to uphold its decision at its 600th meeting on April 29, 2025, by ensuring that the Deputy National Secretary of the PDP functions as the Acting National Secretary pending the ratification of the nominee for the Office of the National Secretary by NEC in line with the recommendations of the PDP Governors’ Forum as adopted by the NWC.

“The South East ZEC further noted that the zone has had to go through this process for the umpteenth time, unlike what obtains in the filling of vacant national offices by other zones. It is recalled that the South East ZEC met in October 2023 and nominated Hon. Udeh-Okoye to serve out the remaining term of the National Secretary. This position was reaffirmed during the February 20, 2024 meeting of the PDP South ZEC. We also reiterated this during the meeting of ZEC in Enugu on Friday, January 25, 2025.

“The South East has consistently served as a stronghold of the PDP from inception. In its near three-decade existence, we have given our loyalty and all to the party. Currently, while the Party has been losing key members post-2023 general election, the South East PDP is at the vanguard of strengthening the Party by rallying major opposition figures into the PDP fold.

“Therefore, we hope that this time around, the position of the South East PDP regarding the Office of the National Secretary is accorded the honour and immediacy it deserves. This would bring to a closure the needless lingering dispute over the matter. However, in the event that our position is not promptly implemented by the Party, the South East PDP, as a family, will be compelled to reconsider our relationship with the PDP going forward.”

Implications

Many, who have weighed into the ultimatum believe that the South East has a bragging right and PDP may become history should the region, which has been PDP’s backbone since it was co-founded by one of their illustrious sons and former Vice President, the late Chief Alex Ekwueme, dump the party.

Despite losing the presidential ticket of the party he built from the scratch to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1998 presidential primary in Jos, Ekwueme and Ndigbo rallied round Obasanjo in the 1999 presidential election. The South East gave Obasanjo 3.2 million votes, representing around 70 percent of the votes cast in the region in that election.

Again, despite the presidential candidature of ex-Biafra warlord, Dim ChukwuemekaOdumegwuOjukwu, in the 2003 general election, the South East mustered 4.5 million votes for Obasanjo’s re-election. This represents about 68 per cent of the votes cast in the region. Ojukwu garnered just 22 per cent of the votes in the region.

In 2007, the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua from North West swept the polls in the region even when General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) lost woefully even when he had Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) who hails from Imo State, as his running mate.

In 2011, the South East gave PDP’s Dr. Goodluck Jonathan nearly five million votes (4,985,246) as against Buhari’s 21,460.

Also, former Vice President AtikuAbubakar, could not muster up to 100,000 votes in the zone despite running with Senator Ben Obi from Anambra State as his vice-presidential candidate. He got an inglorious 76,228 votes.

Although Buhari won the presidential election in 2015, he performed even worse in the South East, than he did in 2011. Abia gave Jonathan 94.18 per cent of votes as against 3.43 per cent, which Buhari got. In Anambra, Jonathan got 98.42 per cent, Buhari got 0.00 per cent. In Ebonyi, Jonathan recorded 88.94 per cent, while Buhari got 5.36 per cent. Enugu gave Jonathan 96.48 of their votes, while Buhari rallied just 2.47 per cent. In Imo, Jonathan got 79.55 per cent of the votes, while Buhari got 18.96 per cent.

It was Buhari’s worst performance nationwide, giving birth to his infamous statement at the US Institute of Peace, that he would not treat people that gave him 98 per cent of their votes the same way as the people that gave him five per cent. Although Buhari managed to get 25 per cent in a few South East states in the 2019 presidential election, the region, nevertheless, overwhelmingly voted for AtikuAbubakar of the PDP. The people of the region consider it their worst era since the end of the civil war and a price they had to pay for their loyalty to the PDP.

Meanwhile, the only time the South East departed from this pattern was in the 2023 presidential election when they cast a protest vote over what they believed was the grave injustice of denying the region the presidential ticket. They overwhelmingly voted for Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP). In the end, unlike at the inception of the present democratic era when the PDP controlled the five South East states, its fortunes have degenerated to just a governor and a sprinkle of National and State Assembly Members. Many also believe that PDP could possibly have won the presidential election had it not created a situation where Obi had to depart, therefore dividing PDP’s traditional votes nationally between him and Atiku.

Today, the party’s prospects in the region look even more gloomy. According to a party chieftain, “PDP has been unfair to us; see how the National Secretary issue has dragged on because they want to please someone outside the zone, who is insulting all leaders without exception.”

Also, while Udenwa lamented that the party had taken the region for granted for too long, Wabara told the ZEC meeting, “We have been trampled upon, not taken seriously. If such a position were vacant in the South-South, it would not be like this. I mean, the usual thing is to play politics with the Igbo man,” Wabara had stated.