The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues unabated as the embattled National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, resumed office on Monday despite opposition from key party stakeholders.

Senator Anyanwu arrived at the PDP National Secretariat around midday and spent over two hours in his office before leaving.

His resumption comes in defiance of the PDP Governors’ Forum, which has recognised Sunday Ude-Okoye as National Secretary following the December 20 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, which affirmed Ude-Okoye’s position.

Before the governors’ intervention, the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) had set up a committee led by Tanimu Turaki, SAN, to study the judgment and report its findings.

However, The Tide source reliably gathered that both the governors and the BoT have settled on Ude-Okoye as secretary and are exploring a diplomatic approach to ease out Senator Anyanwu.

A party source said, “The governors are a powerful organ of the party, and I can tell you that, in line with other organs like the BoT and a majority of National Working Committee (NWC) members, they have decided on the way forward.

“All the governors were in Delta State, and none of them opposed the decision. Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum, who is an ally of Senator Anyanwu, was also there, but he has yet to make any statement.

“Most NWC members have agreed that the party must move forward, and they are ready to follow the governors’ direction.”

Reacting to the development, BoT Chairman and former Senate President Adolphus Wabara told The Tide source that Senator Anyanwu should have waited for the committee’s recommendations before resuming office.

“He has to wait for the position of the Board of Trustees,” Senator Wabara said.

He, however, noted that the governors’ decision to recognise Ude-Okoye would not affect the BoT committee’s work.

“The decision of the governors’ forum to recognise Ude-Okoye will not affect what we are doing in the BoT committee. The committee is for the BoT, not the governors.

“Our work is not an investigation but an interpretation of the Court of Appeal judgment. That is why the committee is chaired by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) of over 24 years, who is also a BoT member.”

Before now, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had stated that the judgment in favour of Ude-Okoye was a declaratory ruling, which cannot be stayed.

Speaking on Senator Anyanwu’s application for a stay of execution, Ologunagba said, “PDP will continue to do what is in the interest of the party, in accordance with the law and the constitution. The judgment granted is a declaratory judgment. That cannot be stayed. It’s clear.”

Efforts to get Ologunagba to comment on the latest development were unsuccessful.

Similarly, Ude-Okoye promised to respond to The Tide source regarding Senator Anyanwu’s resumption but had yet to do so at the time of filing this report.

The alleged expenditure of N130m taxpayers’ money on hotel bills by the Ondo State Deputy Governor, Dr Olayide Adelami, and his aides in 2024 has sparked controversy.

Dr Adelami and his aides have been staying in hotel apartments since he was sworn in in February last year following the renovation of his official quarters at the Government House.

During the 2023 general elections, the official quarters were converted into a computer center and situation room for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Findings showed that the Deputy Governor has lodged in four first-class hotels in the state.

He incurred other expenses in the hotels aside from accommodation.

The Director of students mobilisation of the Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign council, Ijanusi Olawale, said that the state government should have allocated the newly renovated VIP lodge to Dr Adelami rather than spending taxpayers’ money on hotel bills.

Mr Olawale said, “Despite spending a huge amount of money renovating the VIP lodge, all the lodge occupants had been flushed out.

“The deputy governor should be temporarily allocated the VIP lodge within the government house pending the period the deputy governor’s lodge will be completed.”

Mr Olawale said that the state government should have channelled the money used to lodge the deputy governor and his aides in hotels to other areas, such as education, health and other sectors that will benefit members of the public.

Also, a top government official said that the deputy governor and his crew incurred the hotel bills, adding that the state government still has outstanding bills for accommodation and lodging.

He said, “Accommodations were provided for the deputy governor and his aides in these hotels, and they have been using various hotels for one year now.

” The money released for the quarter by the Ministry of Finance was not enough to offset the outstanding bills incurred on the hotel accommodation”.

When contacted, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Digital Media, Rahman Adekunle Yusuf, confirmed that the deputy governor “occasionally stayed in a hotel apartment in Akure, as his official government quarter is under renovation”.

Mr Yusuf denied that the deputy governor’s continued hotel stay was wasting state resources.

According to him, “It is noteworthy that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has ordered the renovation of the Deputy Governor’s official residence, which will be completed soon.

“It is on record that no deputy governor has occupied the said lodge since the first tenure of late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, including Agboola Ajayi.

“For the records, Dr Olayide Adelami, an accomplished Nigerian who retired as Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, was sworn in as the Deputy Governor of Ondo state on the 1st of February, 2024 and was operating from his house in Owo.

“He was later provided a room at a hotel by the protocol unit of the Deputy Governor’s office due to the pressure of the work, which most times didn’t allow him to return to Owo, as his supposed official residence was under renovation.

“The hotel accommodation provided for Dr. Adelami is a room and parlour for him alone, and none of his aides has ever stayed in the hotel with him, as we all have our accommodations in different places within the Akure metropolis.

‘’It should be noted that the Deputy Governor knows nothing about the hotel payment, which is not in his purview, but always checks out of the hotel to relocate to his country home in Owo when there are no matters of urgent importance for him to attend to in Akure, due to his prudent nature.

“For several days in each month, the Deputy Governor comes to his office in Akure from Owo where he houses and feeds everyone on his entourage from his purse, as he had always done for anyone close to him, even before he became deputy governor.”

Speaking with The Tide source, a top government official who spoke in confidence said that the deputy governor’s money incurred on hotel bills was far lower and nothing to fret about.

According to him, “Where do they want the deputy governor to be sleeping when his official quarters are still under renovation?

“No doubt, the official quarters of the deputy governor would soon be ready, and there would not be any more complaints”.

Satisfied with the evidence of 19 witnesses they produced to testify before the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Mr Asue Ighodalo, on Monday, closed their case.

The petitioners are challenging the declaration of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the gubernatorial contest held on September 21, 2024, in the state.

At the resumed proceeding in the matter, lead counsel for the petitioners, Mr. Robert Emukpoeruo, SAN, informed the Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led three-member panel tribunal that they had concluded their case.

The application came shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) produced five additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines that were used in the election.

The electronic devices, which were tendered by a Senior Technical Officer in the ICT Department of INEC, Mr. Anthony Itodo, were admitted in evidence, though all the respondents in the matter objected, saying they would give their reasons in their final written addresses.

It will be recalled that the tribunal had earlier admitted in evidence, a total of 148 BVAS that were used in 133 polling units where results of the election were being disputed by the PDP.

Meanwhile, the tribunal fixed Tuesday for INEC to open its defence.

INEC had declared that Senator Okpebholo of the APC secured 291,667 votes to defeat his closet rival, Mr Ighodalo of the PDP, who got 247,655 votes.

Aggrieved by the outcome of the poll, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, praying it to nullify INEC’s declaration of the APC and Senator Okpebholo as winners of the contest.

The petitioners, among other things, contended that the governorship election was invalid by reason of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.

They equally argued in the petition marked: EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, that Senator Okpebholo of the APC did not secure the highest number of lawful votes that were cast at the election.