“The Floodgate of Crisis Has Just Been Opened in PDP” – Ologbondiyan Blasts Damagum’s Directive

Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kola Ologbondiyan, has accused the party’s Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, of plunging the PDP into a fresh wave of internal crisis following his directive for Sam Anyanwu to resume as National Secretary.

Anyanwu and Sunday Ude-Okoye have been embroiled in a leadership tussle over the position, creating tension within the party. In a move aimed at resolving the impasse, Damagum on Wednesday led a high-level PDP delegation to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Following the meeting, he instructed Anyanwu to resume his duties at the PDP National Secretariat.

The directive has sparked strong backlash from several party stakeholders, including Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who questioned Damagum’s authority to issue such an order, insisting that Anyanwu was not his appointee.

Ologbondiyan added his voice to the criticism, accusing Damagum of violating the party’s constitution by unilaterally issuing the directive without recourse to the National Executive Committee (NEC). Speaking in an interview with Arise Television, he described the move as the beginning of a deeper crisis within the PDP.

“When you talk about the issue of crisis in our party, I think the floodgate has just been opened because the action of Damagum, acting in contravention of the party’s constitution by unilaterally directing Anyanwu to resume office as National Secretary — I can’t describe the implication,” Ologbondiyan said.

He pointed to the resolution made during the party’s 99th NEC meeting at Legacy House in Abuja, which deferred any final decision on the National Secretary position to the upcoming NEC meeting scheduled for June 30.

“The NEC, which is superior to the National Working Committee and second only to the national convention, had resolved to consider the Southeast zone’s complaints about their nomination not being accepted. The NEC said a decision would be made at the next meeting,” he said. “How can a selected group of people sit somewhere and decide that the person whose office is in question should resume? This is outside the resolution of NEC. Do we still have a party?”