The tussle between the two claimants to the position of National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) intensified yesterday with counter-notices by them at the 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party.

One of the claimants, Sunday Udeh-Okoye, had in a letter said the NEC meeting had been moved from March 15 to May 15, 2025.

But Senator Samuel Anyanwu dismissed the letter, describing Udeh-Okoye as an ‘agent of destruction.’

The unsigned letter which had the designation of PDP National Secretary under Udeh-Okoye was made available to reporters in Abuja through the party’s Publicity Directorate.

Surprised by the letter, Anyanwu sent a one-page memo to PDP governors, NEC and Board of Trustees(BoT) members asking them to discard the notice by Ude-Okoye.

The memo titled “Re: Notice Of 99th NEC Meeting’ was also made available to reporters.

In it, Anyanwu emphasised that “Udeh Okoye is not the national secretary of our dear party and was never in any National Working Committee (NWC) meeting where he was mandated to issue such notice.”

The memo partly reads: “My attention has been drawn to a misleading letter on the above subject matter signed by Rt. Hon S. K. E, Udeh Okoye in the designation of PDP national secretary.

“Our party leaders, NEC members, BOT, governors forum and the general public are hereby advised to disregard the purported letter as it emanates from a non-official and authoritative source. The said Udeh Okoye is not the national secretary of our dear party and was never in any NWC meeting where he was mandated to issue such a notice.

“Udeh-Okoye should be aware that he is under a restraining order of the court of competent jurisdiction to stop parading himself as the national secretary of PDP pending the determination of the appeal lying before the apex court of the nation.

“It is obvious from the conduct of Udeh-Okoye that he is an agent set to destroy the party.

‘’He is therefore warned to refrain from further acts that tend to undermine the peace and stability of the party and again impugn the integrity of the judiciary.

“Nothing coming from the said Udeh-Okoye is recognised by law; he is only putting the party to public ridicule.’’

Southsouth, Southwest and Northcentral zonal congresses to hold April 12

The earlier postponed zonal congresses of the party in the Southsouth, Southwest and Northcentral will be held simultaneously on April 12.

PDP’s National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba said in a statement the NWC approved the new date.

Ologunagba said: “The zonal congresses will hold simultaneously in Port Harcourt, Rivers State (SouthSouth ); Ibadan, Oyo State (Southwest) and Jos, Plateau State (Northcentral) to elect the executive officers and national ex-officio members for the respective zonal chapters in line with the constitution and guidelines of our great party.’

He added that the NWC charged ‘’ all aspirants, leaders, critical stakeholders, teeming members of our party in the respective zones, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and the media’’ to note the date.

Also yesterday, the Conference of Professionals in the Peoples Democratic Party (CP-PDP) described the appointment of Southsouth Zonal Caretaker Committee members as a right for unity and stability of the party in the zone.

The conference, in a statement by its Protem National Coordinator. Obinna Nwachukwu urged the Elder Emmanuel Ogidi-led caretaker committee ‘’not to be distracted but work with stakeholders in the Southsouth to further ensure the stability and growth of the party.’’

A former Kaduna lawmaker, Sen. Shehu Sani, has said he lost his senate re-election bid in 2019 because he opposed the former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s move to obtain a 340 million dollars foreign loan.

Sani, who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the Eighth Senate, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.

“I was insistent on speaking truth to power, and that was why I lost my re-election bid in 2019. Former Gov. Narsir El-Rufai was going for a 350 million dollar loan and we said ‘No’.

“”Some of us told him that such a venture would impact negatively on our people, but he went ahead and did that, while he perceived us as his political enemies.

“”This political battle with El-Rufai affected several other politicians, resulting in our leaving the party en masse.

“My own very case was that I stood up to the governor and I paid the price by losing my seat,” he said.

The popular pro-democracy activist, however, said that today, he had been vindicated.

“At that time, the governor was opposed to me; the state assembly members were opposed to me and many political figures there were opposed to me.

“Today, I am vindicated because even the governor of the state today has made it public how the finances and the economy of the state have been strangulated by that loan.

“Many projects were littered, uncompleted and abandoned all over the state. Kaduna today has become the second highest indebted state in the country.

“So I am vindicated, even though I lost my seat,” he said.

Sani said he was satisfied with the role he played on the controversial loan at that time.

“I’m satisfied that, at least, when I die, nobody will look to my grave and say this is the person who signed an approval for the loan that we are going to pay in 100 years.

“The vindication is more important to me than my return to the National Assembly,’’ he said.

The former lawmaker attributed the failure of most members of the national assembly to return to their refusal to be loyal to their governors.

This, he said, often resulted in high turn-out of lawmakers in each election year.

Sani, however, said that the high number of new lawmakers in national and state houses of assembly at every election year was not the best for Nigeria’s democracy.

He said that in the developed world, such as India and the United States, some lawmakers would be in the legislature for 30, 40 and 50 years.

“But in Nigeria, if you are a senator and you are fond of standing up every time to speak truth to the power, you will hardly come back to that national assembly.

“If what you are doing or saying is particularly contrary to the interests of the governor of your state, you will not come back to the national assembly,’’ he said.

The former senator also said that irrespective of a lawmaker’s qualifications, he could only emerge as senate president or speaker of the house if he happened to be the favourite of the executive.

“It’s only during Buhari’s time that a mistake was made in 2015 which made Buhari lose the election at the national assembly.

“Then his adversary Sen. Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara took over and you could see what happened for four years.

“ So, if you are elected as a governor of a state, your life is dependent on the state assembly and you cannot allow your enemy to take over.

“So, you will bring someone whose first qualification is not that he speaks good English, second qualification is not that he is competent, third qualification is not that he is good looking and fourth qualification is not that he knows how to make laws.

“The first qualification of a person who is going to be a speaker is that he is 100 per cent loyal to the governor or the president,’’ Sani said.(NAN)