PDP Crisis: Oruruo Insists He Remains Enugu PDP Chair, Dismisses Ibadan Convention Dissolution
Chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Barr Steve Oruruo, has declared that he remains the authentic leader of the party in the state, insisting that a subsisting court judgment and the PDP constitution leave no ambiguity about his position.
Addressing journalists in Enugu, Oruruo dismissed the purported dissolution of his executive at the party’s controversial Ibadan convention, describing the move as illegal, prejudiced, and unenforceable. The alleged dissolution followed the recent defection of Governor Peter Mbah from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Oruruo maintained that a judgment of the Enugu State High Court in Suit No. E/1267/2025 had already affirmed him and Hon. Martins Onyeanwa Ugwuamadi-Eze as the substantive state chairman and secretary, respectively.
He explained that the ruling was rooted in Sections 45(2–4) and 47(6) of the PDP Constitution, which provide that a deputy chairman automatically assumes office upon the resignation or removal of a chairman. He stated that the party’s National Secretariat, under former Acting National Chairman Amb. Umar Iliya Damagum, was duly served with the order compelling recognition of his leadership.
According to Oruruo, the court also barred the National Executive Committee, NEC, from appointing any other individuals to the positions of chairman or secretary and directed former officeholders to hand over party records and assets—directives he said were duly complied with.
He faulted the Ibadan Convention for accrediting and allowing members of the same “purportedly dissolved” executive to vote during the exercise, insisting that such contradictions underscored its illegality.
“Whoever purportedly dissolved the Enugu PDP State Executive acted in outright violation of a valid court order. The action is void ab initio,” he said.
Oruruo described himself as both the de facto and de jure chairman, adding that his legitimacy also derives from the state congress held on August 31, 2024, which produced the existing executive.
He also dismissed the emergence of a self-styled “state committee” laying claim to the party structure, branding the group as “a gathering of questionable elements” attempting to undermine the rule of law and the PDP’s established values.
The chairman cautioned that anyone parading themselves as Enugu PDP chairman or secretary risks contempt of court and the attendant legal consequences.
He urged party faithful to remain alert, warning that attempts to destabilize the court-backed leadership persist.
Governor Peter Mbah, who was elected under the PDP platform in 2023, recently defected to the APC, a development that has fueled fresh tensions within the state chapter.
EDITOR
Sam Udekwe is a journalist working in the News and Current Affairs department, Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) Enugu. He is well trained in all genres of journalistic venture.
Mr Sam read Mass Communication, graduating all with Distinction in National Diploma, Higher National Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma at IMT, Enugu and Madonna University, Okija, Anambra state, as well as M.Sc Mass Communication with Second Class(Upper Division) at National Open University of Nigeria.
He is the immediate past NUJ Chairman, Enugu state.
samowailo@gmail.com
