There were indications on Sunday that the National Elective Convention of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for November 15 may fail as the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has filed a petition with security agencies, alleging forgery of his signature attached to communications relating to the Ibadan convention.
Anyanwu, an ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike, has petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police.
He also submitted a petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the same issue, asking for an investigation into how his signature appeared on the letters emanating from the PDP, since he did not sign them.
While Anyanwu’s petitions to the DSS and INEC were dated October 15, 2025, Anyanwu’s to the police was dated October 16, 2025.
In separate petitions, the secretary claimed not to have co-authored the August 25, 2025 letter that the PDP wrote to INEC to inform the electoral umpire about the Ibadan Convention set for November 15-16, 2025.
Under current rules, both the national president of the party (in this case, Ambassador Umar Damagum) and Anyanwu must jointly sign such communication. However, in the drama that unfolds, the secretary claims that his signature on the letter to INEC was forged.
The petition to INEC was titled “RE: National Elective Convention of the Year 2025 of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP): Petition against the forgery and cloning of my signature.”
The secretary wrote: “Unfortunately, the cited letter was never signed, authorized or known to me. It is shocking to have a forged/cloned version of my signature on the letter.
“I therefore request that this criminal conduct by officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their collaborators within INEC be investigated and the culprits prosecuted.
“An extract of the falsified document is attached for easy reference.”
In the petition to the DSS, where he specifically demanded the arrest and prosecution of the alleged forgers, Anyanwu stated: “My attention has been drawn to the aforementioned official letter addressed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with Ref. No. PDP/DOM/GF.2/Vol. 1M/25-140 dated Monday, August 25, 2025, purportedly signed by me.
“Unfortunately, the cited letter was never signed, authorized or known to me. It is shocking to have a forged/cloned version of my signature on the letter.
“I therefore request that this criminal conduct by officials of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and their collaborators within INEC be investigated and that the culprits be prosecuted.”
In the IGP’s petition, Anyanwu also wrote: “My attention has been drawn to the aforementioned official letter addressed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with Ref. No. PDP/DOM/GF.2/Vol. 1M/25-140 dated Monday, August 25, 2025, purportedly signed by me.
“Unfortunately, the cited letter was never signed, authorized or known to me. It is shocking to have a forged/cloned version of my signature on the letter.
“I therefore request that this criminal conduct by officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their collaborators within INEC be investigated and the culprits prosecuted.
“An extract of the falsified document is attached for easy reference.”
In recent weeks, there has been uncertainty over the fate of the convention due to unresolved disputes between the majority members of the National Working Committee (NWC) and the FCT minister’s allies over the South-South zonal leadership of the PDP, the congress cases in Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Plateau and several other states.
Similarly, pre-convention office microzoning has not sat well with some stakeholders.
Amid the developments, Honorable Austin Nwachukwu, Chairman of Imo State Chapter, and his Abia State counterpart, Honorable Amah Nnana, filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking to stop the convention.
The matter will come up on October 20 in a substantive hearing before Justice James Omotosho.
There was more drama before the Court last week when the NWC repudiated the party’s legal advisor, Mr Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), saying he was not the designated representative of the PDP in the suit.
In place of Ajibade, the party appointed Chief Chris Uche as its lawyer, while the latter continued to insist that he would be the legally authorized lawyer of the party.
In recent times, party president Damagum and Anyanwu have written counter letters to INEC, each expressing different positions on the situation in the PDP.
Nigerian Tribune attempted to get reactions from the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Honorable Debo Ologunagba, on Sunday night but he was yet to return his call at the time of filing the report.
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