A fresh crisis has erupted within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as state chairmen, former governors, serving and former National Assembly members, and other critical stakeholders from Southern Nigeria have openly disowned a meeting held in Lagos on Thursday aimed at zoning key positions ahead of the 2027 elections.
In a statement issued on Thursday, and jointly signed by several top leaders, the stakeholders dismissed the gathering tagged the “PDP Southern Zoning Consultative Summit” as illegal, exclusionary, and not binding on the party.
The statement was endorsed by the PDP state chairmen of Imo, Abia, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers — Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah, Barr. Venatuis Ikem, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Akpan, and Aaron Chukwuemeka respectively. It also carried the signatures of the National Vice Chairman (South-East), Hon. Chidiebere Egwu Goodluck; Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. O. K. Chinda; as well as Senators Igwe Nwagu, Mao Ohuabunwa, George Sekibo, and Mike Ama Nnachi.
Other signatories included former National Secretary, Rt. Hon. Onwe S. Onwe; Deputy National Legal Adviser, Barr. Okechukwu Osuoha; and former Ebonyi State Legal Adviser, Barr. Mudi Erhenede, among others.
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The PDP leaders described the Lagos meeting, allegedly convened by the Administrative Secretary of the PDP Zoning Committee at the behest of its chairman, Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State, as a clandestine plot to manipulate zoning arrangements in favour of “a select few.”
“It is highly regrettable and indeed deeply disturbing that such a meeting was convened without the courtesy of inviting several state chairmen, national officers, eminent leaders, and ranking lawmakers from the South,” the statement read.
They further alleged that key stakeholders — including the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, several principal officers of the party in the National Assembly, and former governors from the South-East and South-South — were deliberately sidelined.
According to them, such a process “not only offends the spirit of collective decision-making but also risks undermining the very foundation upon which our party was built.”
The signatories categorically dismissed any communiqués, resolutions, or outcomes from the Lagos summit, insisting they do not reflect the
