PDP met Inec on the National Secretary Crisis

National Democratic Party Leadership (PDP), on Tuesday, met with the Independent National Election Commission (Inec) of the remaining crisis in the position of its national secretary.

The meeting at the Inec headquarters in Abuja, which began at 14:30, then entered a closed session immediately after the opening ceremony.

The meeting followed the letter to Inec by the PDP who invited the commission to the 1100th NEC meeting scheduled for 30 June.

The letter dated May 30 was only signed by the National Chairperson of PDP Acting, Umar Damagum.

In his reply dated June 13, Inec told PDP that the letter was not in accordance with the requirements of part 2 (12) 3 of regulations and guidelines for political parties, 2022.

The commission stated that both the National Chair and National Secretary must jointly sign a notification to the Convention, Congress, Conference, or Meeting and submit the same thing to him.

Previously at the meeting, Damagum said that they were at the Inec headquarters to enable party leaders to interact with the commission to guide them about the decision regarding the status of their national secretary.

Duo Sunday Udeh-Okoye and Samuel Anyanwu filed a claim for the position of the National Secretary of PDP.

Damagum said: “We are here today, related to the status of our national secretary.

“We have entered the litigation, I think, from the beginning of last year until when the Supreme Court made an Inec statement was the party in the litigation.

“We are here to interact sincerely with you outside the camera so that we will be guided by the problem of this National Secretary, which we found.”

The Chairperson of Inec, Mahmood Yakubu, noted that the meeting was in the example of the PDP, said that as a regulator of political parties, the door of the commission was always open to party leaders.

Also read: Senate Expands the Implementation of Budget 2024 to 31 December

He remembered that recently, Inec received similar visitors from the Labor Party.

“Acting chairman has stated the purpose of the meeting, namely to ensure the status of the party’s national secretary.

“I am happy that the NEC meeting, which you will hold on June 30, is the 1100th meeting of the NEC from that party, which means that 99 times in the past, you fully comply with inviting us through a letter signed by the chairman and secretary.

“So, there is a problem to discuss. And we are waiting for this important clarification from the party about who the secretary is,” he said.

Jacobu remembered that in recent months, the commission had received about five letters from the PDP to the Party Secretary.

“In recent months, we have received a letter from the party, saying that one Mr. Sunday Udeh-Okoye is a secretary.

“After that, the party changed his mind and said it was Samuel Anyanwu.

“The party then changed his mind to say that it was Mr. Setonji Koshoedo. And once again, the party changed his mind to say Anyanwu.

“The last letter from the party did not have a secretary at all. It was only signed by the chairman, which we responded, but we are here as registrants and regulators of political parties.

“We hope that when we enter the work session, we will fully understand where you come from and what else you expect from us as registrants and regulators of political parties,” said Chairman Inec.

After the closed session, Damagum said the party’s leadership would meet with the larger PDP stakeholders about this issue and return to Inec on Thursday.

Also at the meeting was the Chairperson of the PDP Governor Forum, Bala Mohammed from the State of Bauchi, Governor Seyi Makinde (OYO), the State of Dauda Lawal (Zamfara) and Caleb Muftwang (highlands).

The others are former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, Former Bayelsa Governor, Seriake Dickson, Secretary of National Organizing PDP, West Batur, and Ben Obi, among others.