Fresh Crisis Rocks PDP Over Dissolution of Akwa Ibom Executive

A fresh crisis has erupted in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the rejection of the purported dissolution of its Akwa Ibom State Working Committee (SWC).

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had on Wednesday announced that the National Working Committee (NWC) resolved to dissolve the state executive led by Elder Aniekan Akpan.

He also unveiled a 31-member caretaker committee chaired by Igwat Umoren to oversee the party’s affairs for three months, pending congresses.

But in a swift rebuttal, the PDP National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, dismissed the statement as “null and void,” insisting no such decision was taken by the NWC.

“My attention has been drawn to the purported press release by the National Publicity Secretary of our party announcing the dissolution of the State Working Committee of Akwa Ibom State.

For purposes of clarity, that press release should be discountenanced because there was no formal sitting of the NWC in which such decision was taken,” Anyanwu said in a statement on Thursday.

He stressed that it was not within the powers of the publicity secretary to implement NWC decisions, declaring that the Akwa Ibom executive remained intact.

The embattled state chairman, Elder Aniekan Akpan, also rejected the dissolution after an emergency meeting in Uyo, urging party members and the public to disregard the announcement.

“The NWC did not properly sit to take such a decision. I remain the authentic chairman of PDP in Akwa Ibom State,” Akpan told journalists.

One of the officials listed as a member of the caretaker committee, Ekpong Edem, equally faulted the move, describing the arrangement as “illegal.”

He pledged loyalty to Akpan, under whom he currently serves as Senatorial Vice Chairman.

At the end of its meeting, the Akwa Ibom PDP executive passed a vote of confidence in Akpan, deepening the internal rift over the disputed dissolution.