The Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has demanded the immediate resignation of the party’s National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who is also it’s flag bearer for the November 11 governorship election in Imo State.
In a statement on Saturday the BoT Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, cited the constitutional provision of the party, which disallows a candidate from holding dual positions.
Wabara urged the National Working Committee, NWC, to make sure that Anyanwu resigns and concentrate on the election in Imo.
“Not only is this morally wrong as no one is allowed to hold dual positions, but also against the constitutional provision of our party, which provides for a mandatory requirement of resignation for any party office holder who wishes to contest any elective position. Please see section 47(5) of our constitution as amended.
“The usual practice is for him to have resigned earlier. However, in the wisdom of the NWC, he was allowed to continue in office till now. Nonetheless, the BoT, as the conscience of the party, has the constitutional authority to caution any member of the party acting in a way contrary to the guiding principles of our party and this is one of them.
“It is, therefore, against the background of the above that the board wishes to put it on record and state categorically that the NWC should do the right thing by ensuring that the Imo State governorship candidate resigns from office immediately and focus on the election, which is less than 30 days away.”
According to Section 47 (5) of the PDP constitution as amended in 2017, “Any officer elected into the executive committee of the party at any level may resign his or her office by giving a 30-day notice in writing to the appropriate executive committee, except in the case of resignation for the purpose of vying for an elective office which shall be effective within the period stipulated in the guideline issued for such elective office by the National Executive Committee of the party or the State Executive Committee in respect to local government elections.”
However, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, has denied that the party’s NWC intended to relieve Anyanwu of his position, insisting that he remained the party’s candidate for the Imo governorship election.
“The NWC states in very clear terms that the claim by the group is completely false as the NWC did not at any time relieve or contemplate relieving the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, of his position.”
