•Insists national convention will go on as planned 

•Dismisses Tinubu’s Independence Day broadcast as uninspiring, boring

Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Okon Bassey in Uyo

The leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has insisted that the party’s National Chairman, Ambassador Illya Damagum, never committed any constitutional breaches as alleged by the national secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu.

Anyanwu had in a letter dated October 1, 2025,  said, ‘’It has become imperative to formally bring to your attention the violation of the provisions of PDP constitution, 2017 as Amended and the constant infraction of the duties of the office of the National Secretary.

‘’It is important to remind you that section 36(1) b and e, of the PDP constitution 2017, as amended clearly states inter Alia; b) that the National Secretary shall ‘conduct or direct the conduct of the correspondences of the Party and cause to be issued notices of meetings of the National Convention, National Executive Committee, the National Caucus and the National Working Committee; and e) shall ensure the implementation of the decisions and directives of the National Convention, National Executive Committee, National Caucus, and ensure that all units of the Party carry out their duties promptly and efficiently.

‘’Instructively the duties of issuing notices of meetings and implementations of the decisions or resolutions of the NW are within the purview of the office of the National Secretary

‘’Regrettably, you have disregarded these provisions of the constitution without recourse to the legal implications of your actions. You should be aware that any action or decisions purportedly reached by an illegally constituted NWC is null and void and of no effect.

‘’Note further, that the purported press statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary as regards the dissolution of Akwa Ibom and Cross River State working committees and replacing them with caretaker committee is a nullity because the notice of the NW meeting purportedly held on Tuesday September 30th,2025 was not issued by me.

‘’The decision to undermine the duties of my office as provided by the party constitution is provocative and grossly unacceptable by me.

‘’It is high time you retraced your steps and conduct yourself and the affairs of our Party in strict compliance with the PDP constitution 2017 as Amended. A stitch in time saves nine.

Accept the assurances of my esteemed regards,’’ he concluded.

The party said the November 16-17 national convention was already in progress, saying it is sacrosanct, despite perceived distraction in some quarters.

PDP criticised the Independence Day speech by President Bola Tinubu, describing it as uninspiring and boring.

Addressing the media on the position of things in the party, National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said by the constitution of the party, as amended in 2017, the national chairman remained the chief executive officer of the party.

To that end, Ologunagba said he, by constitutional demand, had the rights to delegate duties and responsibilities to other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) for the smooth day-to-day running of PDP as a political party.

According to Ologunagba, “Section 35 of the PDP constitution as amended in 2027, the national Chairman is the chief executive officer of the party. He summons and presides over the affairs of the party and delegates duties to other members of the party as the case may be.”

He stated that by virtue of Section 29 of the party’s constitution, all meetings were at the instance of the national chairman, and this could only be overruled by a two-third of members of NWC.

Ologunagba explained that Section 29 of the party’s constitution made it explicit that the national chairman of the party should provide leadership or delegate.

Ologunagba dismissed the position of Anyanwu that the chairman was in breach as contained in Section 36 subsection B and C of the party’s constitution.

“By our constitution, the national secretary is the Chief Administrative officer, who takes responsibilities from the National Chairman. He cannot act unilateral. He cannot summon a meeting, unless so directed by the national chairman,” he said.

The national secretary had Wednesday issued a statement accusing the national chairman of breaching and violating the party’s constitution, especially Section 36.

But the November 16 and 17 dates of the national convention of the party, Ologunagba said, were sacrosanct, as they were destined to take place for the general purpose of reinventing the party.

He acknowledged that the party was aware of distractions from some quarters against the national convention, but said, “We won’t be distracted. The convention train has since left Abuja and will soon be landing in Ibadan.”

Ologunagba described Tinubu’s independence day speech as uninspiring and boring, and said it was merely cosmetic

He stated, “The speech of the president to mark the 65th independence of Nigeria is uninspiring, boring and full of propaganda. It dashed hopes with false statistics.

“It did not address the rising youth employment, high cost of living and the growing level of insecurity in the country. One wonders how the President could say that the economy is improving.

“The All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken Nigeria down the lane of bandage and servitude. The president should endeavour to humanise governance for the general welfare and wellbeing of Nigerians.”

In a related development, the sacked chairperson of PDP in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Aniekan Akpan, who had openly declared loyalty to Governor Umo Eno of APC, denounced the dissolution of the PDP State Executive Committee by the party’s NWC.

PDP had, through Ologunagba, announced the dissolution of the Akwa Ibom State and Cross River State executive committees.

In a statement, PDP also announced the composition of a caretaker committee to oversee activities in the two states for the next three months.

But Akpan told journalists at a press conference at the PDP state secretariat in Uyo that he would resist “impunity”.

He declared that the NWC was acting outside its powers, stressing that no formal meeting was convened to approve the dissolution.

Akpan particularly cited a letter by the party’s National Secretary, Anyanwu, which “affirmed that no decision was taken to disband the Akwa Ibom executives”.

He described the dissolution as “false”, saying, “The PDP in Akwa Ibom is intact, right from the state down to the ward level. We will resist any impunity.

“We have it on good authority that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party that claimed to have dissolved the state executive council did not convene any formal meeting to take such a decision.

“The National Secretary of the party, Samuel Anyanwu, has issued a press release and conveyed a letter to us showing that there was no such meeting and affirmed that no formal NWC meeting was held to dissolve the state executives of the party in Akwa Ibom.”

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