The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, on Wednesday, described the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) recognition of Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the occupant of the position as an invitation to chaos.
Anyanwu in a chat with journalists in Abuja, said that BoT had no power to direct the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) to recognise Udeh-Okoye as the party’s national secretary.
The Adolphus Wabara-led BoT had during an emergency meeting on Wednesday in Abuja asked NWC to recognise and immediately swear in Udeh-Okoye as the party’s national secretary.
This, according to BoT, was in obedience to the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
The leading opposition has been embroiled in a leadership crisis with Anyanwu and Udeh-Okoye laying claim to the position.
The Enugu State High Court and the Court of Appeal in different rulings delivered on December 20, 2024, and January 14 removed Anyanwu from office and recognised Udeh-Okoye as the PDP national secretary.
Anyanwu, later secured a stay of execution order from the Court of Appeal, Abuja, an appeal challenging the judgment of the court’s Enugu division.
The PDP Governors’ Forum in a communiqué issued after a meeting held on January 30 in Asaba, Delta State, called for the implementation of the court judgment recognising Udeh-Okoye as the national secretary.
Wabara, who read the communiqué issued at the end of Wednesday’s meeting, said the BoT decision followed the recommendations by the Taminu Turaki-led committee constituted by the board to study the disputes between Anyanwu and Udeh-Okoye.
He said: “Consequently, the BoT by adopting the report, recognises Udeh-Okoye as the substantive national secretary of PDP.”
In his reaction to the BoT decision, Anyanwu said the matter was already in court.
He added that the board lacks the power to offer such advice.
He said: “You and I know that the matter is in Appeal Court and we shouldn’t even talk about it.
“The BoT members there, the tenure of some of them has expired. They can’t direct or advise the executive to do anything because their tenure has expired since October 2024.
“Besides, the matter is in the Appeal Court and there is a stay of execution order. So they (BoT) will be inviting chaos by making such statements.”