By Euclid Myke, Abuja
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday failed to convince the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on why the signature of its National Secretary should be excluded from the letter sent to the Commission concerning its 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
The commission, in a letter dated May 30 2025, with Reference Number: PDP/DOM/GF.21/Vol.13/25-078 raised concerns over the absence of the signature of the party’s National Secretary in the correspondent.
Speaking with journalists briefly after the meeting, Acting National Chairman of the party, Amb. Umar Damagum said that the party will meet with all the stakeholders and report back to the commission within 48 hrs.
“We had a very fruitful deliberation with INEC. We shall take the decisions to the stakeholders for inputs and report back to the commission within 48 hours,” Damagum said.
In the meeting between the commission and leadership of PDP at the INEC headquarters on Tuesday, INEC chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu raised concerns regarding the naming of different individuals as National Secretaries of the opposition party. He said that with the development, the Commission cannot say with certainty who is the National Secretary of PDP.
He said, “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 updated 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 meeting, which was fully signed by the Chairman and not the Chairman and Secretary as provided in our regulations and guidelines. I am glad that that meeting was the 100th meeting of the National Party, meaning that 99 times in the past, you fully complied by inviting us by means of a letter signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the party.
“So there are issues to discuss, and we look forward to these important delegations from the party as to who is the secretary. In the last couple of months, we received letters from the party saying that one Sunday Ude-Okoye was the secretary. Thereafter, the party changed its mind and said it was said to Sen. Samuel Anyanwu. Thereafter, the party changed its mind to say that it was Setonji Koshoedo. And again the party changed its mind to say Anyanwu” he said.
INEC called on the party to apply its constitution in line with recent Supreme Court rulings and come out with a substantive National Secretary.
Present at the meeting were governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Zamfara State’s Dauda Lawal, Bauchi State’s Abdulkadir Mohammed and Plateau State’s Caleb Muftwang.
Also present were former President of the Senate Bukola Saraki, Secretary of the Board of Trustees Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, Sen. Ben Obi, Sen. Seriake Dickson, Sen. Abba Morro, and the party’s National Organising Committee Umar Bature.
The NEC meeting is slated to be held on Monday, June 30, 2025, at the party’s National Secretariat.
