Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The embattled National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who is claiming victory in last Friday’s judgment of the Supreme Court, has disclosed that the war waged against him by some leaders of the party was due to his closeness to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike.
Anyanwu, who described his challenges as “mere proxy wars” insisted that he would not abandon his friends because of politics.

While ruling out the merger of the PDP with other political parties, Anyanwu argued that the party is too big to be part of any coalition.
Meanwhile, the camps of the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Ambassador Umar Damagum, and the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, in the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) have disagreed over the Supreme Court judgment.

Addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja, Anyanwu said: “Those who appear to be against me are only fighting a proxy war because of my relationship with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike who is my bosom friend and remains my friend. I cannot jettison my friends because of politics.

”Where we are coming from is long before politics. Before politics, we were friends; I never knew that I was going to become a National Secretary of PDP. And when he (Wike) needed me the most to support him while he was running as a presidential aspirant in PDP, I was not there for him. So now, what have I done to injure the party or anyone in it? It’s just mere speculation,” Anyanwu stated.

Anyanwu said his victory at the Supreme Court was a victory for the people and the party, pointing out that he was elected as National Secretary of this party in October 2021, while his tenure will end in December 2025.
On how he felt after the Supreme Court judgment, he said, ”As for me today, I am not celebrating but I am happy that God has vindicated me such that even tomorrow if I decide to resign or leave, I will always feel justified that I have fought for a good cause. I fought a battle for the truth, and that’s just the truth. As for those who assume or believe that I’m their enemy, I’m not anyone’s enemy.

”I know that many of my friends who appear to be fighting me have only been fighting a proxy war. But let me emphasise this: what is most important is the party,” Anyanwu explained.
  On the way forward, he said, ”The way forward is for us all to come back together. I work for the party. As I said to my friends in the PDP NWC, we were all elected to serve the party; we may have our differences, but it’s understandable.
“I still believe that we are family, and we came here together, and we shall continue to co-exist together. Our tenure ends on December 9, 2025; so, in the little time ahead of us, we should all work together, stay together, and put the party together.”

On the revocation of the PDP’s new national secretariat by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), he said, ”I’m the National Secretary and I’m just the chief administrator. The fact is that it is not just the PDP that is affected; similar problems affect even INEC, CBN, and NNPC’s buildings and so many others. Let us not make a big issue out of it as if it is all about PDP.

According to Anyanwu, ”Before now, even before we came in as members of PDP NWC, we had been having issues over our new national secretariat with someone who claimed that the land is his own. I know that the lawyers of the FCT stood by us. Before the current issues began, our National Legal Adviser wrote a letter to the FCT minister, which the National Chairman and I delivered by hand to the FCT minister and he assured us that nobody will claim what belongs to PDP.
”But you cannot be a tenant, with my rent expiring and when you can’t renew it, you then start fighting your landlord. It’s either one pleads and looks for a way to pay to remain a tenant or expects that something else would happen. That is what is going on.”

On what becomes of the PDP in the future, Anyanwu said: “As far as I’m concerned, PDP will become stronger and on the issue of a coalition, I have not been informed. I am yet to be informed as the National Secretary and I’d like to know of the genesis of such ideas about forming a coalition with other political parties. PDP is too strong and too big to be drawn into being a mere part of any coalition; rather, people should empty their platforms and come into PDP.”

Damagum, Ologunagba’s Camps Disagree on Supreme Court’s Judgment

Meanwhile, the disagreement between the camps of the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Damagum, and the National Publicity Secretary, Ologunagba, over the Supreme Court judgment deepened yesterday.
 The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Ibrahim Abdullahi has debunked a statement attributed to him, calling on Nigerians and PDP members to discountenance the statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Ologunagba that the Supreme Court judgment had confirmed Sunday Ude-Okoye as the National Secretary of the party.
The statement that was purportedly issued by Abdullahi, reads: “I am directed by the Acting National Chairman of the PDP,  Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun, to refute a misleading statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba shortly after the Supreme Court delivered judgment in the case of Samuel Anyanwu Vs. Emmanuel Aniagu on Friday, March 21, 2025.

”For the avoidance of doubt, the statement of Debo Olagunagba does not reflect the position of the PDP and the NWC respectively. The public should please disregard the falsehood. It is pertinent to inform the public that at no time did the Supreme Court recognise Hon Udeh Okoye as National Secretary, but only described him as an “impostor” while the appellant, Emmanuel Aniagu as a “meddlesome Interloper” respectively.”

But in a statement issued yesterday, Abdullahi described the press release attributed to him as fraudulent.
“Of late, I have maintained a studied silence in the face of this legal imbroglio leading to the Supreme Court judgment of yesterday, Friday, March 21, 2025. This is in deference to the court, as the matter was then sub-judiced. I had figured out the need to maintain a political ambience devoid of contradictions, rancour, violence, and outrage.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I neither received nor was I directed by the Ag National Chairman to issue such a disclaimer.
“I hereby outrightly dissociate myself and the office of the DNPS from the release already making the rounds. It did not originate from me, and I did not sanction it,” Abdullahi explained.