By Atoyebi Nike
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River State has been thrown into deeper crisis following conflicting directives over its state congress to elect a new State Working Committee (SWC).
On Wednesday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, in an unsigned statement, announced the postponement of the congress earlier scheduled for Saturday, September 27, 2025. This followed an earlier directive assigning the South South Zonal Caretaker Committee, led by Emmanuel Ogidi, to oversee the state chapter’s affairs pending fresh elections.
But state PDP Chairman, Venatius Ikem, strongly rejected the directive, insisting the congress would hold as planned. He accused former party leaders of engineering a crisis to impose their candidates and destabilise the chapter.
Ikem, who sits on the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), argued that his tenure remains valid until September 29, 2025, and stressed that only the NEC not the National Working Committee (NWC) has the power to decide on congress dates. “The NWC is not the NEC, of which I am a member. They have no legal or constitutional authority to override NEC’s decision,” he said.
He further vowed to resist any dissolution of the state executive, even in court, and presented documents to prove his tenure was still in force. “Our election was on September 18, 2021, and we were sworn in on September 29. Let anyone claiming otherwise produce their oath of office,” he declared.
The disagreement has left the party in Cross River divided, raising fears of internal fractures ahead of critical political contests.
