PDP National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, has raised the alarm over an imminent crisis within the party, accusing governors of defying court orders and inviting chaos by backing Sunday Ude-Okoye. Find out why Anyanwu believes the PDP could face a legal and political meltdown.
The deepening crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken a dramatic turn as the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has formally petitioned key security agencies, warning of an imminent threat to national peace and stability.
In a strongly-worded letter dated February 1, 2025, addressed to the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal, Anyanwu accused some PDP governors of inviting chaos through their recognition of Sunday Ude-Okoye as the party’s National Secretary.
Anyanwu’s petition highlights a legal deadlock stemming from the Enugu Court of Appeal’s judgment, which favored Ude-Okoye’s nomination. However, Anyanwu insists that the judgment is under appeal at the Supreme Court, making any attempt to enforce it a violation of legal procedures.
“There is an urgent need for the police to take note of paragraph 3 of the communique issued by the PDP Governors’ Forum after their meeting in Asaba, Delta State, on January 31, 2025,” the petition read. “The Forum advised the National Working Committee (NWC) to implement the Enugu Court of Appeal’s judgment, despite the fact that an appeal is pending at the Supreme Court.”
According to Samuel Anyanwu, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had earlier granted an order on January 13, 2025, directing all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum—a legal principle that mandates parties to revert to the state of affairs before the dispute arose—pending the determination of the substantive case.
Anyanwu expressed dismay over the governors’ decision to support Ude-Okoye despite this order, accusing them of ignoring the rule of law. He alleged that Ude-Okoye, on January 29, 2025, stormed the PDP National Secretariat with “hired thugs and bandits” in an attempt to disrupt a Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting, an act he described as “unlawful and disrespectful to the judiciary.”
“The police must be alerted to the grave dangers that will ensue if the NWC proceeds to implement the governors’ advice. This would not only be an affront to the judiciary but could also trigger a major crisis within the party,” Samuel Anyanwu warned.
He further claimed that Ude-Okoye’s supporters are already under criminal investigation for allegedly forging PDP guidelines to mislead the courts into securing favorable judgments.
Samuel Anyanwu concluded by urging security agencies to take immediate action to prevent the situation from escalating, emphasizing that he remains the validly elected National Secretary of the PDP until the courts rule otherwise.