Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has suggested that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, might be walking into a trap of President Bola Tinubu’s ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to destroy the opposition party.

This is even as the camp described the recent decision of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP, affirming Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary as a scam, saying it doesn’t work.

This comes amid adoption of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as the official platform of the opposition coalition.

The decision on Anyanwu has apparently further buried whatever is left of the PDP, with many members, especially in Atiku’s camp and beyond set to dump the umbrella party.

Ekwutosblog reported that the NEC on Monday seemingly ended months of internal conflict that threatened the stability of the party.

The PDP Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun, while addressing journalists after the 100th NEC meeting, held behind closed doors at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, announced that the party members agreed that Senator Anyanwu will continue to act as national secretary.

“As you can see, we just rose from our 100th NEC meeting. This meeting was a one-agenda meeting, which was to discuss the outcome of our interaction with INEC as regards the national secretary. We’ve all converged, we were all together, and we all agree that Senator Anyanwu will continue to act as national secretary,” Damagum said.

Ekwutosblog reports that the decision came less than one week after PDP leaders met with INEC leadership to resolve the party’s signature crisis.

The leadership crisis over Anyanwu’s position dates back to 2023 when he emerged as the PDP’s governorship candidate in Imo State.

His candidacy generated internal debate over whether he could retain his role as national secretary while running for office.

Anyanwu insisted on retaining his position as national secretary despite contesting for office.

The South-east chapter of the party and some members of the NWC had also backed SKE Udeh-Okoye as his replacement.

Speaking to Ekwutosblog concerning the decision by the PDP NEC, on the matter, Paul Ibe, media aide to Atiku said the resolution was a script, insisting it does not work that way.

Ibe claimed that those at the center of the crisis were in cahoots with the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, saying they cannot be the ones trying to resolve the crisis.

He said: “How can you have a resolution of whatever may be the crisis that the party – a major opposition party – is going through, when the people, the ones at the center of the crisis, are in cahoots with the ruling party, and are also the same ones trying to resolve the issue?

“It is all a script. It does not work that way. These are the same people who are in bed with the ruling party, focused on destroying the party. They cannot be the ones trying to resolve the crisis.

“Why were the members of the party, who are working in bed with the All Progressive Congress, APC, harassing and intimidating members of the BoT who had come out for the meeting, necessitating a change of venue?”

Atiku’s aide also condemned the alleged intimidation of some of the NEC members by the security agencies, leading to a change in the venue of the meeting.

Ibe cautioned that the party should be careful of walking into a trap of the ruling APC to destroy the opposition party.

“If we answer these questions, the party will begin to realize that it is walking into a trap of Tinubu’s ruling party to destroy the opposition party. Some of them are enablers.

“They are part of the script. Until the right things are done, we will continue to see it all as a scam.

“We also condemn in its entirety the action of some members of the party who are in bed with the ruling APC in using police to intimidate NEC members, the highest organ of the party, who had come out to hold a meeting as endorsed.

“It’s a replica of what’s seen under a military dictatorship. What they are trying to do is to force us into a one-party stateship,” he cautioned.

However, a former National Auditor of the PDP, Barr Ray Nnaji, told Ekwutosblog that the PDP NEC took the right decision.

According to Nnaji, the party, especially the Governors Forum, was supposed to have taken the necessary steps, noting that they didn’t do what they ought to have done.

He, therefore, called on the leadership to start rebuilding the party.

Nnaji said: “Let me be frank with you, that’s the right decision the party should have taken from day one because they made a mistake not to have acted proactively.

“From the fact that Senator Samuel Anyanwu went for an election, they ought to have rallied round – if they were not pushing for him to come back – and take a decision.

“And then immediately, get an acting secretary and submit his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission as a replacement, so that when he comes back it will not be easy for him, assuming he didn’t resign his position before going.

“They just left it open. And immediately he came back after losing the gubernatorial election, he just resumed and nobody seemed to have been interested.

“If they had acted proactively, especially my governor, who didn’t show any interest in party politics right from time only for him to wake up very belatedly and is now championing a cause he knows it’s not proper because Senator Sam Anyanwu was an elected person.

“And being an elected person, for you to remove him, it’s either by resignation or some many other things as provided in the constitution.

“So the idea of nominating another person when his tenure elapsed belatedly caused a problem. If they had acted proactively, they would have actually foreclosed Anyanwu from coming back.

“Look at what’s happening to the Acting National Chairman, by now they are supposed to have replaced him with another person from North Central immediately after Iyorcha Ayu left.

“But it didn’t take place. Now to remove the Acting National Chairman is going to be a difficult task because they left it for a long time.

“The party is supposed to have taken steps, especially the Governors’ Forum, they didn’t do what they ought to have done.

“They allowed Nyesom Wike to have a field day only to realize he was rightly going to deal with most of them.

“That’s why they are now coming back, even when the matter had gone to the Supreme Court, it seems not to have been resolved.

“Now they have taken a decision because it was going to cause a problem to the party as only the National Chairman now signs nomination forms and correspondence without a National Secretary.

“They are now realizing that it’s better to take Sam Anyanwu as the National Secretary, and that’s the best. Let them start by rebuilding the party.”

Meanwhile, political leaders in Nigeria’s opposition parties, as well as some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, gathered in their numbers on Wednesday in Abuja during the unveiling of the ADC as the official platform of the opposition coalition.