EXCLUSIVE: PDP BoT lacks power to ask Anyanwu to resign, Wike replies Wabara

Nyesom Wike, minister of federal capital territory (FCT), says the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) does not have the authority to declare who can occupy the office of national secretary of the party.

Adolphus Wabara, acting chair of the BoT, had asked Samuel Anyanwu to resign as the party’s national secretary on the ground of being the governorship candidate in the November 11 election in Imo state.

Replying Wabara, Wike also expressed dismay that the former senate president referred to Emeka Ihedioha as “former governor of Imo state” in his letter to Iliya Damagun, acting chair of the PDP.

“Your Excellency, permit me to observe with respect that the Board of Trustees (BOT) lack the moral authority to intervene on the issue of who occupies or should occupy the Office of the National Secretary of the Party,” the minister wrote in his response to Wabara seen by TheCable.

“This is more so as the BOT was unable to use its good offices as the conscience of the Party to intervene in the crises that engulfed the Party in the run-up to the 2023 General Elections when Officers of the party blatantly violated the Constitution of the Party.

“Secondly, the Ag. Chairman of the BOT is reminded that the issue of who occupies the position of National Secretary of the Party is beyond the BOT’s sphere of authority and influence.

“Indeed, if and when a vacancy occurs, the responsibility of deciding who and how the vacancy will be filled is that of the entire Southern States to which the position was zoned and not only the South East geopolitical, as your letter under reference appears to be suggesting.”

Wike said the letter to Damagun should not be copied to Ihedioha as the former governor of Imo state because the supreme court had nullified his election.

“By the Supreme Court’s pronouncement, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha was never elected Governor of Imo State and ought not to have been so copied,” the former governor of Rivers said.

“To do otherwise will amount to dressing him in borrowed robes, which will not do him and the Party any good.”

In April, Anyanwu became gubernatorial candidate for the forthcoming election in Imo scheduled for November 11.

Anyanwu, a former senator, polled 802 votes at the election which took place on Wednesday in Owerri, the state’s capital.

He was the sole candidate in the race following the withdrawal of other aspirants.

The former senator will slug it out with Hope Uzodimma who is seeking a second term in office.

CRISIS BEFORE ELECTION 

The former governor of Rivers got into a headwinds with his party after Atiku Abubakar, PDP standard bearer, failed to pick him and chose Ifeanyi Okowa, immediate-past governor of Delta as running mate after the party’s presidential primary in May 2022.

Wike, alongside his allies at the time, had insisted that Iyorchia Ayu step down as national chair because the former vice-president was from the north.

The former governor of Rivers proposed that as a condition for peace.

That did not happen and Wike did not support the PDP candidate during the presidential election.

TheCable reported how Wike had meetings with Tinubu before the election – and later ended up in his cabinet.