BREAKING: PDP NEC meeting uncertain as party’s leadership crisis deepens

The anticipated National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is now uncertain due to renewed divisions within the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).

Party insiders revealed that conflicts surrounding the acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, and other leadership issues have resurfaced.

The NWC, responsible for organizing NEC meetings, has been at the centre of internal strife.

A previous crisis led to the suspension of key party leaders, including Damagum and National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba. Although interventions by PDP governors briefly restored peace, the discord appears to have re-emerged.

At a meeting in Jos, Plateau State, PDP governors, led by Governor Bala Mohammed, urged the NWC to convene the NEC meeting by February 2025.

Governor Mohammed said: “The period between November and February should address the party’s existential problems, with a clear timeline of activities to resolve leadership and litigation issues.”

Recent tensions escalated over the role of the National Secretary. Damagum and embattled National Secretary Senator Samuel Anyanwu accused Ologunagba of overstepping his authority.

They also appointed Deputy National Secretary Ibrahim Abdullahi as their spokesperson.

At a press briefing, Abdullahi referred to a court order limiting his functions without directives from Anyanwu.

“We are obliged, as a law-abiding party, to respect the court order,” he said.

In contrast, Ologunagba dismissed the deputy’s authority, saying: “The National Publicity Secretary is the authorised person to convey the party’s activities to the public. The deputy publicity secretary is not a member of the NWC and cannot speak for the party.”

The NEC meeting has been postponed multiple times, from its original August 2024 date to November, and then indefinitely.

Timothy Osadolor, Deputy Youth Leader and NEC member affirmed that the meeting remains scheduled for February.

“February remains the date, and the current issues are not enough to obstruct NEC. It is crucial that NEC holds, and it will,” Osadolor told Daily Trust.