There was mild commotion at the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP) National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, yesterday, as members of staff of the party, supported by security personnel, resisted attempts by some thugs, said to have been recruited by the former National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, to prevent members of the National Working Committee ( NWC) from accessing the secretariat.
According to Daily Sun, some political thugs had assembled at the entrance of the Wadata Plaza, ahead of a meeting of the NWC scheduled to be held at the secretariat.
However, members of staff of the party resisted the thugs, before they were eventually cleared by a combined team of security personnel, comprising policemen, Department of State Service ( DSS) operatives and officials of the Nigerian Security Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
Yesterday was the first time the PDP leadership would be having a physical meeting at the national secretariat since the dispute over the national secretary position.
The Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, had in a judgment on December 20,2024, affirmed the judgment of an Enugu State High Court, which upheld the nomination of former PDP national youth leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye as National Secretary.
Ude-Okoye was nominated by the South East PDP to replace Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary, in the aftermath of the latter’s emergence as candidate for the last Imo governorship poll.
Nonetheless, Anyanwu has continued to insist that he remains the National Secretary, while the PDP Governors Forum, the Board of Trustees ( BoT) and the NWC have recognized Ude-Okoye as the scribe of the opposition party.
The Supreme Court, after hearing Anyanwu’s appeal, last Monday, reserved judgment on the dispute.
However, ahead of Wednesday’s NWC meeting, one of Anyanwu’s aides, Emmanuel Okoronkwo, in a video circulating online, had said nobody without a PDP ID card would be allowed to access the party secretariat.
It was, however, gathered that after the security team cleared the thugs, the NWC members went ahead with their meeting, with Ude-Okoye in attendance as National Secretary.
