The Southeast Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) threatened to pull out of the main opposition party unless the former National Youth Leader, Sunday Udeh-Okoye, is appointed as National Secretary.
Noting that the zonal caucus endorsed Udeh-Okoye for the position last year, it warned that PDP risked a mass exit that would decimate it in the Southeast if its demand is ignored.
The zonal caucus, which re-nominated Udeh-Okoye, vowed to resist any attempt by the party leadership to turn it down.
According to the caucus, Udeh-Okoye was nominated to complete the tenure of the national secretary in line with the directive of the National Working Committee (NWC)during its 600th meeting in Abuja.
Southeast PDP leaders, including Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah, Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman Senator Adolphus Wabara, former Imo State Governor Achike Udenwa, and National Vice Chairman (Southeast) Chief Ali Odefa, said the party could only take the regional caucus for granted to its peril.
They vent their anger against the party leadership during the meeting of the Southeast Zonal Executive Committee held at the Government House, Enugu, the state capital.
Mbah, leader of the party in the zone, called for the sustenance of regional unity, adding that the zone should speak with one voice in its resolve to realise its objective.
Wabara and Udenwa lamented what they described as the PDP’s disrespect for Southeast, warning that it has implications.
But workers at the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja, reiterated their support for the choice of Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, as Acting National Secretary by the governors and the NWC.
The PDP leadership crisis escalated two years ago when the former Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who contested for the Imo State governorship election, returned to reclaim the position.
However, Southeast PDP leaders, who rejected Anyanwu’s claim, endorsed Udeh-Okoye as national secretary at a stakeholders’ meeting in Enugu last year.
In December, attempts by Anyanwu and Udeh-Okoye to attend the BoT meeting in the capacity of Secretary led to physical fight among their aggrieved supporters.
Miffed by the violence, the BoT temporarily shifted its meeting from the party secretariat to a high brow hotel in the FCT.
