PDP S’South exco tackles NWC’s spokesman for faulting Dan Orbih’s re-election

The executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), South-South zone, has tackled the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba for faulting the election that re-elected Dan Orbih as the zonal chairman.

Recall that Orbih was re-elected over the weekend at the well-attended zonal congress of the party which was held in Calabar, Cross Rover State.

Earlier, Ologunagba faulted Saturday’s zonal election saying, “To the contrary, the PDP states in clear terms that it has not conducted its South-South Zonal Congress neither is it in any way involved in the said gathering in Calabar.”

Reacting, the South-South PDP, in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Prince Etim Isong, noted that Ologunagba and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party overstepped their boundaries by attempting to dictate to the zonal chapter of the party how to summon a congress.

Isong said the Congress was well-attended by stakeholders of the PDP in the region, including the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke, Zonal Chairman Chief Dan Orbih, members of the National Assembly, BOT members, Speakers and members of state Assemblies.

He said, “Contrary to the recent embarrassing and baseless claims peddled by the ineffective National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Debo Ologunagba, asserting that the South-South Zonal Congress has not been conducted, the South-South Zone of the party, under the capable leadership of Chief Dan Orbih, hereby and confidently declares that the congress was held with resounding success. Conducted in Calabar in an atmosphere of commendable order, the Congress proceedings and outcome aligned perfectly with the statutes of our great party.

“At the South-South Zonal Chapter of the PDP, we find it utterly disgusting to hear that Mr Debo hiding under the cover of the National Working Committee (NWC) is ever busy misinforming Party members to claim that a meticulously planned and well-conducted zonal congress did not take place. We wish to inform all and sundry that the congress is done and dusted—no interim or parallel exercise can hold again.”

Furthermore, the zonal exco argued that “The PDP Constitution, in Sections 27(2)(c) and 27(2)(d), unambiguously empowers the Zonal Executive Committees to summon and organize Zonal Congresses, including setting their agendas, without any mandate or interference from the NWC. Meanwhile, Section 29(2) defines the NWC’s role as one of national coordination, with no authority whatsoever to meddle in the conduct of zonal congresses. This constitutional clarity affirms that the South-South Zone acted within its rightful powers in accordance with the Party Congress timetable with INEC. Furthermore, this position is cemented by subsisting judicial pronouncements. In the suit marked FHC/L/CS/636/2016, presided over by Hon. Justice I. N. Buba, and another, FHC/ABJ/CS/208/2020, by Hon. Justice Ahmed Mohammed, the Federal High Courts ruled decisively that the NWC lacks the power to override executive committees at any level in conducting congresses. These judgments upheld that the Ogun State Executive Committee—and by extension, all executive committees—are legally empowered to hold congresses independent of the National Secretariat. These rulings stand firm, and Mr. Ologunagba should Please take note and cease embarrassing our party with baseless statements.

“How does any right-thinking individual reconcile the National Publicity Secretary’s claim that the NWC, prompted by the NEC, deemed it proper to alter the timetable of our congress without consulting the South-South Zonal Committee—the prime actor in this event? This is the very culture of impunity that has repeatedly brought PDP to its knees, a scourge we in the South-South Zone are determined to eradicate it . I believe Mr. Ologunagba is aware that it’s not possible to shave a man’s head in his absence. Your statement amounts to making unilateral decisions about our zone without reference to us at the Zone. The NWC is not a den of magicians!”