G5 Crumbles As Wike And Makinde Disagree Over PDP National Secretary Slot
- By Metropolix ~
- January 22, 2024 --
- 0 Comment
– Wike, Makinde
By Adeola Idris
When Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde is advocating for a more influential Rt. Hon. Udeh Okoye, controversial FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike is supporting failed Senator Anyanwu who polled 15% of total votes as PDP candidate in Imo guber election for selfish reason to continue to destroy the PDP in favour of the APC. Moreso Okoye is supported by the South East PDP leaders and BoT.
This has rendered the once intimate relationship between Makinde and the former Wike crumbled.
The rift centers around the coveted position of National Secretary, with Makinde pushing for Rt. Udeh Okoye, while the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Wike, adamantly supports the incumbent, Sam Daddy.
Sources within the PDP told journalists that the dispute has strained the once-close relationship between the two political heavyweights.
Meanwhile, Makinde, in a letter addressed to the Acting National Chairman of the Party, Umar Damagum, obtained urged him to swear in the nominee of Southeast, Rt. Hon. SKE Udeh-Okoye, as National Secretary of PDP, who is affirmed by the Enugu State High Court and backed by the PDP Board of Trustees.
There is an intense argument on who is the authentic national secretary of the party which has now become a subject of contest between Samuel Anyanwu and a former PDP National Youth Leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye.
Samuel Anyanwu, the substantive occupant of the position, stepped aside to contest in the 11 November Imo State governorship election under the PDP platform but lost to the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress.
He did not, however, submit a letter of resignation for the national secretary position of the party.
Meanwhile, in October 2023, some weeks before the Imo election, the leadership of the PDP in the South-east nominated Mr Ude-Okoye to replace Mr Anyanwu as the party’s national secretary.
It was reported that the position of the national secretary was zoned to the South-east by the PDP in 2021 ahead of the party’s national convention on 30 October of that year.
In the heat of the debate, a High Court in Enugu State, in October 2023, ordered the PDP to replace Mr Anyanwu as the party’s national secretary with Mr Ude-Okoye. The suit was filed by the former PDP national youth leader.
The PDP National Working Committee (NWC) had countered the order in a motion filed on 24 October 2023.
In the motion, the NWC asked the court to set aside the order, arguing that “it was obtained by fraud and suppression of material facts” and also faulted the order for not being specific as to what position Mr Udeh-Okoye should fill.
In another twist, earlier this month, a Federal High Court in Abuja, declared Mr Anyanwu as the valid national secretary of the PDP.
The judge, Inyang Ekwo, also restrained the national leadership of the PDP from appointing any person as its acting national secretary until the expiration of Mr Anyanwu’s four-year tenure on 9 December 2025, as enshrined in the party’s constitution.
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