The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected a notice from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) about its planned National Executive Council (NEC) meeting. INEC said the letter sent to it did not meet the proper requirements under electoral rules.
On May 30, PDP wrote to INEC, saying it would hold its 100th NEC meeting on June 30 at its national office in Abuja. The letter was signed by the party’s acting national chairman, Umar Damagum. According to the law, political parties must inform INEC 21 days before such meetings.
But INEC responded on June 13, saying the notice was not valid. According to INEC, a rule in the 2022 guidelines states that both the national chairman and national secretary must sign such letters. Since only the acting chairman signed the letter, the notice was not acceptable.
This issue is linked to an ongoing leadership problem in the PDP. Two different people—Samuel Anyanwu and Sunday Udeh-Okoye—are both claiming to be the rightful national secretary of the party. Because of this, the party could not provide a letter with the correct signatures.
The conflict started when the PDP’s southeast zone picked Udeh-Okoye to replace Anyanwu, after Anyanwu became the PDP’s governorship candidate for Imo State in 2023. Anyanwu went to court to stop the replacement, but on December 20, 2024, the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Udeh-Okoye and said he was the rightful secretary.
Anyanwu still disagreed and said he appealed to the Supreme Court. He also asked for the Court of Appeal’s decision to be put on hold. But in March 2025, a panel of five judges at the Supreme Court dismissed his case. They said the issue of who is the PDP’s national secretary is something the party must settle on its own.
Now that the courts have stepped back and the party still hasn’t resolved the issue, INEC’s rejection of the NEC meeting notice shows how serious the leadership problem in the PDP has become. Without fixing the confusion over its national secretary, the party may face more problems ahead of its planned meetings and future elections.
