INEC to PDP: Adhere to Supreme Court judgement

By Baba Martins, Abbas Jimoh & Dalhatu Liman

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday told the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it should adhere to the Supreme Court judgement on the position of its national secretary.

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The electoral body also told the PDP leaders comprising of governors, members of the National Working Committee (NWC) Board of Trustees (BoT), members and some lawmakers elected on the platform of the party, that it will only accept correspondences signed by the national chairman and national secretary of the party, it was gathered.

It was further gathered that the meeting was called at the instance of the PDP, following the refusal of INEC to accept its notification of a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting slated for the end of this month. INEC had rejected the letter on the grounds that it was not signed by the chairman and secretary of the party. Only the acting chairman, Umar Damagum signed the letter.

Daily Trust reliably gathered from sources within the party hierarchy that during the meeting, INEC refused to mention any name as the secretary, saying the party is the one that should know its leaders.

A top ranking official of the party told Daily Trust that, “the party wanted to know from INEC who is recognised as the national secretary, but the commission told the party that the Supreme Court ruling on the matter was clear and that what the party needed to do was to obey the judgement.

“As I am talking to you, the leaders of the party are still in another meeting and they might come up with a name that will be presented to INEC, because the commission has made it clear; it will not accept any correspondence that is not signed by both parties”.

Also, Daily Trust gathered that after the meeting with INEC, the PDP leaders were locked in a high level meeting to find a way out of the problem at the Bauchi Governors lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.

The party leaders were still locked in discussion as at the time of filing this report.

INEC clarifies position

Zainab Aminu Abubakar, an official with the publicity department of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told BBC Hausa, that the commission met with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in response to concerns raised by the opposition party.

“The meeting was convened at the instance of the PDP because it had some complaints, and the chairman gave them a listening ear,” she said.

According her, the PDP alleged that it had invited INEC to oversee its planned congress, but the commission failed to respond favourably.

“The chairman clarified that, based on existing provisions of the Electoral Act, INEC cannot honour any invitation from a political party unless it is duly signed by both the party’s national chairman and national secretary. The invitation sent to us by the PDP was not endorsed by the national secretary,” she explained.

Also speaking to the BBC Hausa, after the meeting, PDP’s acting National Chairman, Umar Iliya Damagum, said the party would deliberate internally before communicating its position.

“We had a meeting with INEC, so we’ll go and deliberate on it and come back with the decision we reached,” he said.

Controversy over national secretary

Trouble over who is the rightful occupant of the national secretary position of the PDP started when Senator Samuel Anyanwu won the Imo State governorship primaries during the last election.

In his absence, the South-east Caucus of the party replaced Anyanwu with Sunday Udeh-Okoye, a former national youth leader of the party.

On his return after losing the election, Anyanwu sort to reclaim his position, but was blocked by some stakeholders from his zone led by Chief Ali Odefa, the Deputy National Chairman, South-east of the party.

The development led to a series of litigations before the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu ruled in December, 2024 and affirmed Udeh-Okoye as the national secretary.

Not happy with the decision of the Enugu court, Anyanwu took the case to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court in its judgement squashed the ruling of the courts that gave judgment to Ude-Okoye, but added that the party is supreme and should decide its leaders.

Instead of settling the issue, the Supreme Court ruling deepened the crisis, with those in support and against laying claim to victory.

Those in support of Anyanwu said the judgement of the lower court had been squashed and as such Anyanwu remains the secretary, while those in support of Ude-Okoye said the party has been given the power to decide its leaders and asked the South-east to nominate their preferred candidate.

Worried by the development, the PDP governors nominated the the Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo to act as secretary pending the resolution of the crisis.

INEC rejects PDP letter

Last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission rejected the notice submitted by the party regarding its planned 100th National Executive Committee meeting scheduled for June 30, 2025.

INEC, in a letter dated June 13 and addressed to the party’s acting chairman, stated that the submitted notice failed to comply with its regulations.

INEC cited Part 2(12)3 of the 2022 Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, which requires that such notices be jointly signed by both the National Chairman and National Secretary of the party.

INEC, in the letter signed by acting Secretary, Haliru Aminu, advised the PDP to ensure proper compliance with its rules moving forward.

“The commission draws your attention that the notice is not in compliance with the requirement of part 2(12)3 of the Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, 2022 that provides ‘the National Chairman and National Secretary of the Party shall jointly sign the notice of convention, congress, conference or meeting and submit same to the Commission. Be guided,” the letter read.

The meeting

On Tuesday, some governors of the party and key members of the party’s leadership had a closed-door meeting with the management of the (INEC) led by its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

The high-level delegation, led by Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum, included Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), and the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed.

Also in attendance at the meeting at the INEC Headquarters in Abuja, were former Senate President Bukola Saraki, former governors Ahmad Makarfi and Seriake Dickson of Kaduna and Bayelsa states respectively, Senator Abba Moro and former PDP national secretary, Senator Ben Obi, among others.

Speaking during the opening ceremony before going into the closed door, Damagum thanked INEC for granting the audience, describing the engagement as both rare and important.

“We are here today to discuss and interact with you sincerely because we had NEC, and there was a decision of NEC which mandated me to sign a letter to avoid controversy. And I received your reply on that letter, urging us to be guided by rules. So I think we are here to interact sincerely with you, off camera, so that it will guide us when we get back to have a position,” he said.

In his response, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, confirmed that the meeting was requested by the PDP and emphasised that the commission remains open to all registered political parties in line with its regulatory responsibilities.

Yakubu expressed concern about inconsistencies in the party’s communications, noting that INEC had received letters naming different individuals as the party’s national secretary and called for clarity on the issue.

“This meeting is at the instance of the party. They requested to interact with us and our doors are always open to meet with leaders of political parties in our capacity as the registrar and regulator of political parties in Nigeria.

“You may recall that not long ago we received similar visitors from the Labour Party. So when the PDP said it was going to visit, we welcomed them. The acting national chairman has stated the purpose of the meeting to discuss the status of the party’s national secretary, particularly regarding the letter we sent to the party on the request for us to monitor their 100th NEC meeting, which was only signed by the chairman and not the chairman and secretary as provided in our regulations and guidelines.

“I am glad that meeting was the 100th meeting of the NEC of the party, meaning that 99 times in the past you fully complied by inviting us by means of a letter signed by chairman and secretary of the party. So there are issues to discuss and we look forward to this important clarification from the party as to who is the secretary.

“In the last couple of months we received letters from the party saying that one Ude Okoye was the secretary. Thereafter, the party changed its mind and said it was sent to Samuel Anyanwu. Thereafter, the party changed its mind to say that it is Arch. Setonji Koshoedo, and again the party changed its mind to say it is Anyanwu.

“And the last letter from the party actually has no secretary at all. It was only signed by the chairman, which we responded to,” Yakubu said.

Damagum, Ologunagba lock horns

Before the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba had boosted that INEC cannot stop their NEC meeting.

According to the party spokesman while addressing journalists on Sunday, the notice was extended to INEC on courtesy, adding that they were not duty bound, because the NEC meeting was not for merger or election of officials as stipulated by INEC guidelines.

Ologunagba also accused INEC of acting at the behest of certain interests seeking to undermine the party and disrupt its NEC and also support those in favour of one party state.

But, Damagum, on Monday dissociated the party from Ologunagba’s remarks.

In a statement titled “Acting Chairman Denounces Unauthorized Commentary by PDP Publicity Secretary,” Damagum said the comments were made without the knowledge or endorsement of the National Working Committee (NWC).

He said, “It is particularly troubling that such a delicate issue was addressed publicly without the necessary internal consultations, especially when a meeting had already been scheduled for Tuesday, June 24, 2025, between the PDP leadership and the INEC chairman to address the concerns raised in the commission’s earlier letter.

“The views expressed by Hon. Ologunagba in that interaction were his personal opinions and should not be construed as the official stance of the PDP,” Damagum said .

He also said that this was not the first time the publicity secretary had acted independently, disregarding established party processes.

However, a former national publicity secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said that the public statement by Damagum, dismissing the media interface of Ologunagba  with journalists was “utter disappointment.”

He said Ologunagba was re-echoing the unanimous resolution of “our National Executive Committee (NEC), that the next meeting (100th) would be held on June 30th.

“This latest action by Damagum is completely unacceptable and a major affront to the authority of NEC, the NWC and the sensibility of all PDP members,” he said.

He said there were two cardinal offences against the spirit of the PDP from this latest action of Amb. Damagum. “He sought to torpedo a decision of NEC and secondly, brought our party to a public odium. The leaders of the PDP must take action immediately to stem this attempt by Amb. Damagum to destroy the legacy party, the PDP,” he said.

Analyst weighs in

Speaking on the development, Dr Jide Ojo, a development consultant and political analyst told Daily Trust that the ongoing crisis within the PDP is not “good optics for the party.”

He, however, said that since the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, declared that he was pulling out of all reconciliation efforts in the party and blamed the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde for the crisis, things have not been the same.

Ojo noted that a party like the PDP that was in power for 16 years, had under its umbrella, three presidents and is about having its 100th NEC meeting should be aware of processes.

He said, “the PDP, as a party should know better, but many of its leaders are not ready for peace. This is a party that ruled this country for 16 years, at a point it had 31 governors out of the 36 states. Why should they not be aware of processes and procedures?

“Since they have been having their NEC meeting, is it the same way they have been writing to INEC? Why should this one be different? The publicity secretary should also know that if INEC is not important, then why write the commission in the first place.

“The electoral act gives INEC the power to supervise the meetings of political parties, so this one by the PDP should not be different. But they are not having the best of times. If you remember, this is not the first time that the NWC members are divided publicly. Before now they had two different acting chairmen.”