A former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Ogun State, Segun Showunmi, has said Samuel Anyanwu is the party’s national secretary.
Naija News reports that Showunmi said the judgment of the Supreme Court favoured Anyanwu and not Sunday Ude-Okoye, endorsed by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
In an interview with Arise News on Monday, the PDP chieftain slammed the statement from PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, that recognized Ude-Okoye.
Showunmi stated that Ologunagba’s statement was not the position of the party’s NWC, the Governor’s Forum nor that of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT).
His words: “I sat through that judgment in court. I was not only interested in what the judgment would be per se, I was interested in how the judgment would be laid. Now, the judgment, a certified true copy of it is not ready yet. But I know for a fact that the NWC of our party has not sat to consider the judgment. I know for a fact that our national legal advisor is not yet in possession of the judgment. I wonder where and why one member of the NWC, however high his position, will now take the tyranny of our handle and then begin to impugn his own private interpretation to a judgment that the hard copy is not even out.
“So I would beg the media with profound respect to disregard whatever it is that Ologunagba is saying for now. I’m not saying he’s not the publicity secretary. I’m saying that any political party does not have the imagination that one officer, especially a publicity secretary, represents the totality of the BOT, of the Governor’s Forum, of the NWC when they haven’t met and made any pronouncement. A publicity secretary of a party, so to speak, is the vuvuzela of the party only when they have considered and taken a position.
“That said, the court said many things, which you have alluded to, and I don’t want to waste time on that. The court said, it is your internal affairs. But in its lead judgment, it agreed with the prayers of the man who went to court, which is Anyanwu. And for the record, Section 47, 5 of our Constitution says any officer elected into the executive committee of the party at any level may resign, not shall, his or her office, by giving 30 days’ notice. Now, those who cleared Anyanwu for the governorship election in Imo were aware of this provision. Hence, they did not stop him. Now, you cannot now rob a man of the privileges you have granted him ab initio. It does not mean that the party does not have the capacity to decide.
“But what I am saying, and what I wish to say clearly, by the decision of the Supreme Court today, Anyanwu is the national secretary of the party. If the NWC considers the judgment, and then now that they’ve been given powers that issue internal affairs and do something else, then when we get to that bridge, we’ll cross it.
“I think that for the sanity of the nation, especially for the integrity of the party, including all of the issues they are dealing with, it is totally wrong. And I state it and call it wrong that one member of the NWC would jump the gun and not wait for the others before taking a position. However, he may think his position is right. You can do a right thing in a wrong way. And in this instance, he is wrong. In fact, he is wrong by the law, he is wrong by the status of the party.”
