PDP: NWC affirms Ude-Okoye as national secretary

• Nwodo, Secondus hail

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

Two former national chairmen of the Poples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo and Prince Uche Secondus have  hailed the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) to affirm former National Youth Leader,  Sunday Ude-Okoye, as national secretary.

In a statement, yesterday, National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, noted that NWC affirmed him at its meeting after considering a memo by the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum.

“The NWC in considering the Memo thoroughly examined the attached documents namely; the Declaratory Judgement of the High Court of Enugu, the Judgment of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division which pronounced and declared Rt. Hon. S.K.E Udeh Okoye as the National Secretary of the PDP; the Legal Opinion and Advice by Dr. Kabiru T. Turaki SAN as well as that of the National Legal Adviser of the PDP. 

“After due consideration of the Memo and the attachments, the NWC overwhelmingly recognizes, acknowledges and confirms Rt. Hon. S.K.E Udeh Okoye as the substantive National Secretary of the PDP in full compliance with and obedience to the Judgement of the Court of Appeal, recognizing that there is no subsisting or superseding Judgment or Order from any Court of superior authority or hierarchy.

“The NWC has commenced the transmission of its Resolution/Decision affirming Rt. Hon. S.K.E Udeh Okoye as the PDP National Secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant bodies for recognition in line with the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

“The NWC commends all Organs, leaders, critical stakeholders and members of the PDP for their steadfastness, respect for the Rule of Law and loyalty to the Party at this critical time.

“The NWC reassures that it will continue to be guided strictly by the provisions of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017), Operational Guidelines, the Rule of Law and the vision of our founding fathers for the stability and growth of the Party, entrenchment of democracy and wellbeing of Nigerians.”

Nwodo and Secondus, in a joint statement by their media adviser, Ike Abonyi, lauded NWC for standing firm in defence of the rule of law and party discipline.

“By recognising Chief Ude Okoye, the party leadership has demonstrated its total commitment to the rule of law and rightly portrayed the party as a truly democratic institution.”

The statement added that “Nwodo and Secondus warned the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and the Federal Government to allow the opposition parties to breathe as a strong opposition is the right measure for vibrant democracy all over the World.

“The experienced party leaders advised the new Secretary and the members of the NWC to work towards strengthening the party to position it as the party to beat in the subsequent elections.

The party leaders finally advised the party leadership to be forward-looking and not allow their acrimonious past to affect their vision for the party.”

The Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, last December, affirmed the nomination of Ude-Okoye as PDP national secretary. The former national youth leader was nominated, by the South East chapter of the PDP as replacement for Anyanwu as national secretary, after the latter emerged as candidate for the 2023 Imo gubernatorial poll.

Recently, the PDP Governors Forum and the Board of Trustees (BoT) recognized Ude-Okoye as the party’s national secretary and directed the NWC to swear him in.

Also, the  PDP National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, in a memo to Damagum, advised the NWC to comply with the directive of the BoT.

However, Anyanwu has continued to insist that he remains the national secretary of the opposition party, pending the determination of his appeal to the Supreme Court on the matter.