Politics
Confusion as conflicting notices surface on PDP NEC meeting
A growing rift within the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has emerged as two senior party officials give conflicting directives regarding the long-anticipated 100th meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC), scheduled for Monday, June 30, 2025.
Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, the Deputy National Chairman (South), in a press conference held in Abuja on Sunday night, reaffirmed the party’s commitment to holding the 100th NEC meeting as scheduled, saying that the meeting remains legally binding and unchangeable.
Addressing journalists, Amb. Arapaja declared, “For the avoidance of doubt, the National Working Committee (NWC) assures all party members that the 100th NEC meeting will proceed as scheduled tomorrow, Monday, June 30, 2025, at the NEC Hall of the Wadata Plaza, PDP National Secretariat, Abuja.”
He said that the meeting will receive critical updates on the work of the Zoning Committee and the National Convention Organizing Committee ahead of the party’s National Convention slated for August 28 to 30, 2025.
Amb. Arapaja stressed that the meeting date was unanimously adopted during the party’s 99th NEC session on May 27, 2025, and remains inviolable under Section 31(3) of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017). “No organ, officer, or faction of the party has the authority to vary, cancel, or convert the NEC meeting.
His remarks was a direct response to a notice circulated on social media, which purported that the NEC meeting had been replaced with a “Special Expanded National Caucus Meeting” on the same date and venue.
Dismissing the notice as unconstitutional, Arapaja emphasized that no such organ as an “Expanded National Caucus” exists in the PDP Constitution. “Section 30 of the party’s Constitution is explicit in defining the structure, composition, and functions of the National Caucus. Any suggestion of expansion is not only alien to the party’s legal framework but entirely without basis,” he said.
In what appears to be a power play within the party’s hierarchy, the controversial notice was signed by Senator Samuel N. Anyanwu, the PDP’s National Secretary.
The notice invites a broad range of stakeholders, including former governors, immediate past gubernatorial candidates, ex-NWC members, state chairmen, and PDP National Assembly caucus members, to what it describes as a “Special Expanded National Caucus Meeting” at 2:00 p.m. on Monday.
The NWC, through Amb. Arapaja, has categorically disowned the invitation, urging members to disregard it. “The PDP is a party founded on the principles of rule of law, constitutional order, and internal democracy. These core values must be safeguarded at all times,” he concluded.
