Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, a member of the house of representatives and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo state, has raised alarm over the crisis rocking the party.
Speaking in a video posted on social media, Ugochinyere alleged that 40 PDP lawmakers and two governors were on the verge of defecting to other political parties due to unresolved internal crises and growing dissatisfaction with the current leadership.
“Because of the crisis in the party, I can confirm to you that two more governors in the party want to decamp and 40 lawmakers also want to decamp,” Ugochinyere alleged.
He accused Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), and Samuel Anyanwu, PDP’s national secretary, of sabotaging the party from within and called on the national working committee (NWC) to immediately expel them to save the party from total collapse.
“Averting this imminent danger, which will happen in the matter of days, the NWC must immediately rise up and summon an emergency meeting of the party with the simple majority which they already have, with or without Damagum, to expel Anyanwu the political traitor and also ratify the removal of Damagum by anointing a north-central person as acting or substantial national chairman of our party.
“Here in Imo, we don’t know who Anyanwu is. We only know him as an APC agent and a political coward who has no shame and is accepting to be the one to bury Africa’s biggest opposition party.”
He noted that the Imo PDP had already ratified Anyanwu’s expulsion at the state level and urged the NWC to recognise this decision without delay.
He also declared Chris Odoemenam as the state’s acting party chairman and called on the national body to do the same.
“As state leader of the party, I’m saying Chris Odoemenam is our state acting chairman, and the NWC must also recognise that so we can start the internal cleansing of our party,” he said.
Ugochinyere warned that despite the damage allegedly caused by Wike and Anyanwu, they were still “working behind the scenes to paralyse the party’s leadership using legal tactics”.
“PDP is sinking and it is sinking very fast, and despite the damage they have done, they have perfected fresh plans again to ensure that the NWC is incapacitated with multiple suits filed at the federal high court,” he alleged.
He stressed that failure to act decisively could lead to a mass exodus of members, further weakening the party ahead of the 2027 elections.
Ugochinyere called for a leadership overhaul, starting with the removal of Damagum, the acting national chairman, and the appointment of a new chairman from the north-central zone.
