The Peoples Democratic Party chieftain Segun Sowunmi has criticised Debo Ologunagba, a member of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) for making premature comments on the recent Supreme Court ruling concerning the party’s National Secretary position. He insisted that the NWC had not yet convened to discuss the judgment and urged the media to disregard any individual interpretations.
His criticism came during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, while arguing that no single officer, particularly a publicity secretary, had the authority to interpret the ruling before the party had collectively reviewed it.
Sowunmi’s comments were made after the Supreme Court had nullified previous rulings that removed Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP, declaring that party leadership matters are internal affairs beyond the jurisdiction of the courts. This ruling overturned the Appeal Court’s December 2024 decision, which upheld Anyanwu’s removal by the Federal High Court in Enugu. However, following the judgment, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, issued a statement asserting that the ruling confirmed Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the substantive National Secretary.
Sowunmi said, “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 adviser is not yet in the position of the judgment. I wonder where and why one member of the NWC, however his position, will now take the tyranny of our handle and then begin to impune his own private interpretation to a judgment that the hard copy is not even out. I will 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 Governors forum, of the NWC when they haven’t met and made any pronouncement. A publicity secretary of the party, so to speak, is the vuvuzela of the party only when they have considered and taken a position.”
He further emphasised that Anyanwu remains the legitimate National Secretary and warned against rushing to conclusions.
He said, “What I wish to say clearly, per the decision of the supreme court today, Anyanwu is the national secretary of the party. 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 will 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. He is wrong per the law, he is wrong per the statutes of the party.”
Melissa Enoch
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