The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reaffirmed its decision to hold the 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on June 30, declaring that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has no legal authority to stop it.
At a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, criticized the intervention of INEC’s Acting Secretary, Halilu Aminu, questioning his motives and authority.
“INEC has no role in the regular meetings of the NWC or NEC,” Ologunagba stated.
“These are internal party matters, as clearly established by the Supreme Court in numerous rulings. INEC cannot cancel our meetings. It is the party’s prerogative to decide such matters. INEC has no authority to do so.”
Ologunagba emphasized that the PDP never designated the meeting as one to elect officers, hold primaries, or nominate candidates.
“We did not state that the meeting was for electing officers, conducting primaries, or nominating candidates for elective positions,” he added.
“Yet, the Acting Secretary of INEC, Halilu Aminu, decided to unilaterally assign a purpose to our meeting.”
The PDP has been embroiled in internal leadership disputes, particularly over the National Secretary position.
The conflict between Sunday Udeh-Okoye and Senator Samuel Anyanwu, backed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, has caused significant delays to NEC meetings.
In a bid to stabilize the situation, the party appointed Setonji Koshoedo as Acting National Secretary.
However, a fact-finding committee led by Taraba State Governor, Kefas Agbu, reported that INEC recognizes Anyanwu as the substantive secretary.
This prompted INEC to reject the party’s May 30 notification for the upcoming NEC meeting, insisting that the letter must be co-signed by both the National Chairman and National Secretary, per its rules.
Ologunagba pushed back firmly on this position, citing Nigerian law and the PDP constitution:
“Now, whoever signs the letter is an interrupter of the party. If the court does not have jurisdiction over 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 also raised broader concerns about the independence of INEC and its apparent interference in party affairs:
“Why the desperation to kill political parties? All they want is a party state, to stifle opposition. Which is just, like I have said earlier here, it’s wishful thinking, it’s hallucination.”
“And INEC should know that this is a hallucination. 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.”
According to Ologunagba, the 100th NEC meeting will focus on preparations for the party’s national convention, including updates from the Zoning and Convention Committees formed during the 99th NEC meeting.
“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 explained.
Addressing INEC’s rejection letter, Ologunagba reiterated that the party followed due process:
“For the record, there have been several times we have issued notices of 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?”
He concluded with a warning about the broader implications of INEC’s actions:
“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?”
“INEC has global partners, organisations that are interested in the body and support its independence, technical capacity, and credibility in the electoral process,” Ologunagba said.
“INEC’s actions could undermine democracy and erode international confidence in its capacity to deliver credible elections.”
