By Daniel Alabrah
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) eventually held its long-expected National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. It was the 99th in the series.
The meeting held at the party’s Legacy House in Abuja was significant for many reasons. To be sure, it was an opportunity for the party that had been enmeshed in a self-inflicted crisis since the 2023 presidential poll to re-invent and reposition itself ahead of the 2027 general election.
The atmosphere at the meeting, which had in attendance key leaders and organs of the party, was convivial. For a party that had in the last two years severally shifted this all-important meeting, it was not only an opportunity for frank deliberations but also for some form of back-tapping.
Indeed, it was an important turn of events given that not a few had lost hope in the party. Some undertakers had even predicted that the NEC meeting would never hold as the PDP was in the intensive care unit and just waiting for its funeral.
But the meeting belied such predictions as the PDP again showed the capacity to resolve its internal crisis and bounce back to reckoning. Despite the absence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and its presidential candidate in 2019 and 2023, and its tormentor-in-chief, a former Rivers State Governor and current Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, the meeting took some positive decisions. Chief among these was how it intelligently navigated round the niggling and contentious issue of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary of the party. It was smart of the NEC to have deferred the decision till next month’s meeting in order to meet the requirements of the PDP constitution on the removal of its elected officials.
The party also showed that it had the balls to rebuff Wike. The FCT Minister had been on rampage verbally tormenting his ‘own PDP‘ and attempted to scuttle the meeting after officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration sealed off the party’s national headquarters over issues bordering on ground rent.
For observers, the action a day before the meeting was deliberately timed and aimed at the PDP jugular. But the party proved naysayers wrong by quickly activating a Plan B even at the last minute.
Two notable events were of personal significance. One was the emergence of my principal, Governor Douye Diri, as chairman of the National Convention Zoning Committee. His affirmation by the NEC after his nomination at the April 14 meeting of the PDP Governors Forum in Ibadan was indicative of the confidence reposed in him by the party.
Senator Diri has been a reliable bulwark of the PDP and by his outstanding performance in office, he has ensured the party was well entrenched in Bayelsa State. Under his leadership, PDP has a vice-like grip on the state with its members occupying the three seats in the Senate and the five House of Reps seats. PDP also has an overwhelming majority in the state House of Assembly.
Apart from his likable persona, the Bayelsa helmsman is a politician of conviction, who does not sit on the fence nor given to prevarication. The job to apportion party offices equitably to the six geo-political zones could not have been assigned to a more worthy choice. Diri is the perfect exemplar of who the cap fits let him wear it.
Also, for me and watchers of events in Bayelsa, particularly in the last two months, the NEC meeting had another weighty signpost. It was also an opportunity to test the waters politically.
Sometime in March, an amorphous group known as the NEW Associates, claiming allegiance to Wike, suddenly surfaced in the state. Its activities were audacious just as they were brazen.
The group forced its way into the state’s consciousness by announcing a rally, which it initially claimed was in honour of Wike but later added President Bola Tinubu, for effect. This came at a time the Ijaw nation had an ax to grind with Wike over his unsavoury comments against the ethnic group. The rally earlier slated for April 12 in Yenagoa was shifted by two weeks due to the tension it generated in the state.
The intent of the NEW Associates left many flustered. For instance, how would a group whose leadership pledged allegiance to the PDP brazenly defy the leader and leadership of the party in the state?
To add ammo to its shenanigans, the convener, one George Turnah, who had been suspended by the party at the state level, also began posturing as chairman of the Bayelsa PDP and made a circus of it in the media.
So, proponents and opponents of the group cum Turnah-led PDP waited for the NEC meeting to determine who the authentic chairman was between him and the recognised Chief Solomon Agwana. Alas! on the day of the meeting, the impostor became clear as the leader of the ragtag group was nowhere near the venue. Photographs of Agwana seated at the meeting and alongside other states chairmen surfaced online but that of the impostor was not seen. The NEC meeting summarily resolved the issue of who the authentic Bayelsa PDP chairman was.
My concern really had been the role of my immediate constituency, the media, in promoting Turnah’s illegality. I wondered why media platforms, despite knowing the truth, push an agenda that not only lacked objectivity but also had trappings of falsehood. Should the media deliberately yield itself to the allegation of inducement? Now that the impostor’s posturing has fallen flat on its face, where does it leave him and the media?
These questions agitate the minds of objective observers, who believe that the media should not be used as the platform to deliberately promote confusion. Given its significant role in national security and development, the media must of necessity guard its responsibility jealously. Objectivity, balance and fairness must not be sacrificed on the altar of the highest bidder.
Yes! I’m open for the debate.
*Alabrah, a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, is Chief Press Secretary to the Bayelsa State Governor
