THE HOUSE THAT ATIKU BUILT IS BURNING” Inside the PDP’s blood-letting week: forged signatures, midnight suspensions and a national secretary dragged out of his office.

The shouting started at 12:07 p.m. sharp. On one side,National Secretary Sen. Samuel Anyanwu—red cap askew, voice hoarse—was yelling "You are impostors!” On the other, a trio of national vice-chairmen waving asingle-sheet communiqué they insisted carried the authentic stamp of the NWC.”

Before security could separate them,a wooden gavel flew across the Wadata Plaza board-room, smashing the glass portrait of the party’s founding chairman. By night-fall, Anyanwu had beensuspended, the party’sTwitter handle was in atug-of-war, andex-Ekiti governor Ayodele Fayose was on *Channels TV* declaring: PDP is now on life-support. We are hopelessly divided.”

1. THE SPARK—A LETTER NO ONE CLAIMS TO HAVE SIGNED

The crisis ignited last Tuesday when aletter dated 28 October surfaced online,removing Anyanwu andthree others for *“anti-party activities, financial recklessness and unauthorised leakage of official documents.” Anyanwu’s first reaction was laughter. I am the custodian of the seal. That letter is a forgery,” he told reporters. Yet by Wednesday,14 of the 25-member National Working Committee had appendedfresh signatures endorsing the purge.

Problem: theoriginal letter wasprinted on NWC letter-head,numbered NWC/045/2025, butbore no signature.

Insiders say it wasdrafted in Gov. Wike’s Port-Harcourt guest-house, flown to Abuja andcirculated via WhatsApp before Anyanwu saw it.

2. MIDNIGHT RAID—SECURITY MEN DRAG SECRETARY FROM OFFICE

At 01:14 a.m. Friday,six armed policemen arrived at Wadata Plaza witha warrant signed by an FCT magistrate. Anyanwu, who hadslept in the annex to *“guard the files”*, wasescorted out in slippers, hismobile phone seized. By dawn, theparty’s ICT unit hadchanged the locks;staff badges werere-issued; andActing National Secretary Hon. Setonji Koshoedo—aloyalist of the Rivers camp—wasphotographed at Anyanwu’s desk, grinning beside ahalf-empty bottle of Gordon’s gin that Anyanwu says *“is not mine.”

3. TWO CHAIRMEN, ONE TV STUDIO, ZERO SHAME

Hours later,national chairman Iyorchia Ayu—itself a disputed title since hisMarch 2024 suspension—appeared on *Arise News* flanked byKoshoedo. The NWC has spoken. Anyanwu is gone,” Ayu declared. At the exact moment,Amb. Umar Damagum, backed byAnyanwu and 11 NWC members, was on *TVC* insistingAyu had been re-suspended” for *“gross misconduct”* two weeks earlier.

Result: viewers watchedtwo chairmen, onsplit screen, eachclaiming to lead the same party whiletrading identical accusations of *“forgery, impersonation and constitutional breach.”

4. COURT PAPERS FLY FASTER THAN CAMPAIGN POSTERS

Before the weekend,three separate suits had been filed:
-FHC/ABJ/CS/1127/2025 – Anyanwu vs Ayu, seekingrestraining order against *“illegal suspension”*;
-PHC/183/2025 – Rivers PDP faction, demandingAyu’s removal for *“anti-party activities in Edo”*;
-FHC/L/CS/987/2025 –Board of Trustees, askingfederal judge toappoint an interim administrator—a move that couldtechnically kill the party’s corporate existence.

Court sources sayno judge wants the hot potato;one case has already been transferred twice.

5. GOVERNORS PICK SIDES—SOUTH-EAST VS SOUTH-SOUTH

The split now mirrors2023 presidential primaries wounds:
- Wike-led G-5 (Rivers, Benue, Oyo, Enugu, Abia) backAyu’s ouster;
- Atiku-Kwankwaso bloc (Adamawa, Sokoto, Bauchi, most North-Central)rally behind Anyanwu;
- South-East governors—squeezed betweenIbo presidency agitation andRivers money—arenon-committal, leavingAnyanwu, anImo son,politically exposed.

6. FAYOSE EPITAPH—”WE HAVE LOST THE SOUL”

OnSunday Politics, Ayodele Fayose—never shy of a blunt epitaph—delivered themost damning obituary yet: PDP is no longer a political party; it is agladiator arena. We arehopelessly divided,ideologically bankrupt andfinancially haemorrhaging. The house thatAtiku built isburning, andeverybody is carrying petrol.”

When the anchor asked if he still saw apath to 2027, Fayose laughed: 2027? My brother, we may not survive2025 if we keepsuspending ourselves.”

7. CASH CRUNCH—WAGES, RENT, DATA SUBSCRIPTIONS UNPAID

Wadata Plaza staff told this reportersalaries are two months behind;party data centre hasno subscription—hence thewild swings onofficial Twitter handle (@OfficialPDPNig) betweenAyu and Damagum factions; andlandlord of the Plateau state secretariat haslocked the gate over₦18 million rent arrears.

8. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT—COURT, CONVENTION OR COFFIN?

Options on the table:
- Emergency National Convention—needs₦8 billion the partydoesn’t have;
- Supreme Court pronouncement—no clear constitutional path for‘interim administrator’;
- INEC deregistration—possible ifintra-party crisis isunresolved by December 2025 (Section 225, 1999 Constitution).

One thing is certain:Sen. Samuel Anyanwu will sleep elsewhere tonight the new locks on his former office have already been changed.

This has been The Red Hot Report from Pepper-Room. The news that bears it all.

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