- Safiu Kehinde
The expelled National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Samuel Anyanwu, has declared the party’s recent national convention a “jamboree” and claimed it was illegal.
NPO Reported that the PDP had over the weekend held its elective national convention.
Notable among the activities at the convention was the suspension of 12 senior members of the party, including Anyanwu, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, and former Ekiti state governor, Ayodele Fayose.
They were all expelled over alleged anti-party activities.
The PDP convention held on Saturday and Sunday saw Kabiru Turaki, a former Minister of Special Duties, elected as the new National Chairman.
Reacting to the development in an interview on Channels Television’s program, Sunday Politics, Anyanwu rejected the legitimacy of the convention, stressing it did not follow due process.
He held that the convention done on Saturday was mere jamboree as he alleged that the party failed to conduct congresses in sixteen states before the convention.
“Sixteen states had not even done their congresses; the entire South-East has not done their congress, suggesting that all that happened on Saturday was a jamboree.
“Even the ones done earlier have not been communicated to INEC,” he stated.
Anyanwu also noted that several states were absent from the convention, arguing that the event could not be considered all-inclusive.
“When I heard somebody yesterday at the convention, when they were celebrating, having their jamboree, saying that we must obey the rules of the party, I laughed,” he added.
Anyanwu criticized the lack of communication between state structures and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC’s absence according to him makes it impossible to consider the convention inclusive or legal.
“The absence of these states makes it impossible to claim that the convention was inclusive or legal,” he said.