By Cosmas Omegoh
The Imo PDP Critical Stakeholders, a political pressure group within the Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) has commended the National Working Committee (NWC of the party for its decision to eventually relieve the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, also known as Samdaddy, of his conflicting position.
In a release signed by its spokesperson, Comrade Kenneth Chukwuemeka Akunnakwe, the Imo PDP Critical Stakeholders said the sacking of Samddady who incongruently doubled as the party’s candidate for the November 11, 2023 Imo governorship election was not only a welcome development but equally a step in the right direction.
According to Akunnakwe, “We, (members) the Imo PDP Critical Stakeholders are exceedingly pleased with this decision of the NWC which has effectively disengaged Senator Anyanwu from the position of the National Secretary to allow him time to deal with his gubernatorial responsibilities.
“With this development, our party will once again blossom and expectedly regain its enviable place as a virile, united and exciting platform poised to liberate Nigerians from their present socio-economic and political quagmire”.
The group condemned Samdaddy’s shenanigans and futile attempts to appropriate the two positions of the National Secretary of party while simultaneously running as the PDP governorship candidate for the November 11 election in Imo state. The statement recalled that all entreaties by the critical stakeholders and other well meaning members of the larger PDP family in the past beckoning on Senator Anyanwu to relinquish either of the two positions fell on deaf ears.
“It is very true that since April this year when Senator Anyanwu emerged the candidate of the party, the critical stakeholders had written volumes to him advising him of the negative implications of functioning as the national scribe of PDP and at the same time hoisting the party’s flag as its standard bearer. We equally brought this political absurdity to the attention of the NWC as well as the Board of Trustees of the party. But nothing came out of these protestations. As a matter of fact, Samddady’s disgraceful end was a disaster foretold. Though now coming late in the day, the NWC ,nevertheless deserves applause for ultimately doing the right thing” the spokesperson enthused.
The group further showed disgust with “Samddady’s desperation” which, according to Akunnakwe clearly manifested soon after he was kicked out of office. “The fact that Samddady was recorded as ‘jumping from pillar to post’ after his long expected sack, trying to lobby virtually every PDP bigwig in order to reverse the NWC decision clearly smacks of Senator Anyanwu’s manifest desperation that does not take into consideration the overall interest of the party. “This unbecoming attitude of the former National Secretary dramatizes nothing but desperation and a lack of discipline”, Akunnakwe elucidated.
The group called attention to section 47(5) of the PDP Constitution which provides that “any officer elected into the Executive Committee of the Party at any level may resign his or her office by giving thirty days notice in writing…which shall be effective within the period stipulated in the guidelines issued for such elective office by National ExecutiveCommittee of the Party”.
The Party’s Guidelines for the conduct of primary elections, 2022 which the Party’s Constitution mandates that the timeframe for resignation should be stated therein is silent on the time for resignation of Party officials vying for elective office.
However, the absence of the time limit for resignation in the Electoral Guidelines, 2022 does obliterate or obviate the constitutional requirement of resignation in the instant case. In the absence of this stipulation in the Guidelines, recourse can be had to the time limit for resignation enshrined in Section 182(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which provides:
“No Person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if:
(g) being a person employed in the public service of the Federation or of any State, he has not resigned, withdrawn or retired from the employment at least thirty days to the date of the election”
It is important to clarify that the purpose of invocation of this Constitutional provision is not to construe the party office as public service but to have recourse to the time limit encapsulated therein for resignation for the purpose of contesting election in the absence of the time frame for resignation in the Party’s Electoral Guidelines, 2022.
The history of PDP is replete with officers who have hearkened to this statutory injunction such as Dr Eddy Olafeso who resigned as National Vice Chairman to run election, the current Taraba governor who resigned as State chairman as well as the former state chairmen of Benue and Jigawa states who resigned when they were nominated as deputy governorship candidates. Invariably, Senator Anyanwu refused to obey the same rules he was elected to super- intend. Is it any wonder then that the NWC showed him the way out to save our Party from indiscipline and unconstitutionalism.
The Stakeholders noted that, for Samddady who is just three weeks away from his election to continue to jostle for dual sensitive capacities is a clear demonstration that ab initio, he was not contesting to win the governorship election but rather struggling for the ultimate control of the party structure in Imo State.
Remarkably, the Imo PDP Critical Stakeholders, through its spokesperson delivered a clarion call to Samdaddy, calling on him to immediately come back to the state and start a massive campaign if he must lead PDP to a respectable position in the forthcoming governorship election in Imo state. “As our people say, “you cannot stay at Afor Market and make an accurate projection of what is trending at Nkwo Market. The 11/11 2023 governorship is to be contested and won in Imo State, not in Abuja. As faithful party members, we are urgently calling on Senator Samuel Anyanwu, our candidate for the November 11, 2023, to hurry back home to the state, flag off his campaign, and tour the 27 LGAs in the state to sell his policies and programmes to Ndi Imo.
The stakeholders, however, frowned at the news lately making the rounds that the sacked National Secretary of PDP planned to take the party to court to seek whatever redress he thought he had. The group admonished Samddady against such move as this would put a death knell to his political career.
As a way of strengthening the party, the Imo PDP Critical Stakeholders advised the party hierarchy to ensure adherence to it’s own constitution by mandating Samdaddy’s replacement to come from Imo State in accordance with Section 47(6) of the PDP Constitution, 2017, as amended.