The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared that its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting slated for June 30 will go ahead as planned, despite objections raised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
At a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, dismissed INEC’s position, stating that the commission has no legal authority to interfere in the internal statutory meetings of political parties.
“INEC has no role in the regular meetings of the NWC or NEC. These are internal party matters, as clearly established by the Supreme Court in numerous rulings,” Ologunagba stated.
“INEC cannot cancel our meetings. It is the party’s prerogative to decide such matters. INEC has no authority to do so. We are planning to hold our meeting as scheduled; if anything changes we will brief you.”
The party’s current leadership crisis—most notably the battle over the national secretary position between Sunday Udeh-Okoye and Samuel Anyanwu, who is backed by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike—has delayed NEC meetings and fuelled internal tension.
To navigate the deadlock, the PDP appointed Setonji Koshoedo as acting national secretary. However, a fact-finding committee led by Taraba State Governor, Kefas Agbu, revealed that INEC still recognises Anyanwu as the substantive national secretary.
Following the 99th NEC meeting, the PDP scheduled its 100th NEC meeting for June 30. On May 30, acting National Chairman Umar Damagum notified INEC accordingly. But INEC rejected the notice, arguing it must be co-signed by both the national chairman and the national secretary.
Ologunagba pushed back on this position:
“We did not state that the meeting was for electing officers, conducting primaries, or nominating candidates for elective positions. Yet, the acting secretary of INEC, Halilu Aminu, decided to unilaterally assign a purpose to our meeting.”
He further explained:
“According to Nigerian law and the PDP constitution, INEC’s role is limited to being notified about conventions, congresses, or primaries where party officers or candidates are elected.”
He clarified that the upcoming NEC meeting will review reports from the zoning and convention committees and assess preparations for the party’s national convention.
“At the 99th NEC meeting, it was unanimously agreed to schedule the next meeting for the 30th of June. The constitution of the zoning committee and the convention committee was approved. Consultations with various organs of the party and stakeholders are ongoing,” he added.
Ologunagba stressed that INEC’s involvement in internal party meetings without electoral implications is both unconstitutional and overreaching.
“If the court will not have jurisdiction about what happened with the internal affairs of the party, I wonder why INEC will have jurisdiction over it because that is not the job of INEC.
“If we designate somebody to be the person to sign the letter, so be it. And that’s why it’s an internal affair of the party.”
He continued with a sharp rebuke:
“Why the desperation to kill political parties? All they want is a one-party state, to stifle opposition. Which is just, like I have said earlier here, it’s wishful thinking, it’s a hallucination.
“INEC should know that this is hallucinating. This country will not go into a one-party state and nobody, no matter how powerful, whether you’re a president or you’re a combination of presidents, it will not work.”
Referring to past communications with INEC, he said:
“For the record, there have been several times we have issued 21 days’ notice for congresses or other meetings that require those things to INEC and we have had calls at some point to even shift those dates.
“So how did this acting secretary decide on his own to create and become a member of a political party and create for us an agenda that was not conveyed in the letter of the acting national chairman?
“The challenge for us now as a party is to say, who is the acting secretary of INEC working for? What is the objective? Why is he creating an agenda for our party for a regular statutory meeting that is routine?”
Ologunagba concluded by warning that INEC’s meddling could damage democratic processes and erode international confidence in the commission’s capacity to deliver credible elections.
