S-East PDP wants Nwodo removed as PDP Chair
*It is the handwork of busy-body people- Nwodo
By Tony Edike
THE plot to remove from office, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo on account of the Enugu High Court order thickened yesterday as the South East Zonal Executive Committee of the party passed a vote of no confidence on him, asking him to resign from office immediately.
The South East PDP leaders also asked the National Working Committee to suspend Nwodo from his position as the National Chairman if he refuses to resign as directed just as they apologized to Nigerians for what it called “calamitous behavior of Dr. Nwodo in deliberately and willfully attempting to void the special convention by not only showing up but forcibly taking over the officiating at the convention before he was overpowered and subdued”.
The decision was contained in an 8-point communiqué issued at the end of the zonal meeting of the party held at its secretariat in Enugu yesterday. In attendance were Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, Governor Sullivan Chime, Senator Ayogu Eze, all from Enugu State and strong opponents of Dr. Nwodo in the lingering PDP crisis that has torn the state chapter of the party apart.
Governors of Ebonyi, Chief Martins Elechi, Chief Theodore Orji (Abia) and Chief Ikedi Ohakim (Imo) were not present at the meeting. Deputy Governor of Imo and Ebonyi, Mrs. Ada Okwuonu and Dr. Chigozie Ogbu were however present but it was not known if they represented their governors.
Some members of the National Assembly from the South East including those who lost their return tickets were as well as Chairman of the party in the five South East states were also present at the meeting.
The communiqué signed by the Zonal Secretary of the party, Mr. Vincent Okpalaeke reads: “Having reviewed developments within the PDP, especially as it affects the South East geo-political zone the South East Zonal Committee of the party resolved as follows:
* To congratulate the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, His Excellency Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan on his overwhelming victory as the presidential flag-bearer at the PDP special convention;
* To restate our overwhelming endorsement of his candidacy and our firm belief that he and the Vice President, His Excelllency, Architect Namadi Sambo possess the experience, education and sufficient knowledge of Nigeria’s problems to be able to pilot the country to the next level of her development
* To commend the president for his exemplary conduct throughout the period of the campaigns, even in the face of glaring acts of provocation and to urge him to sustain this laudable leadership quality even as the country is set to elect him president during the general elections in April
* To condemn without reservation the ignoble conduct of the suspended National Chairman of our party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, who by flagrantly disregarding the party’s constitution, disobeying a valid court order by showing up at the special convention and lying to the convention that the order had been vacated, brought shame and embarrassment to the party and therefore us, his kinsmen and women
* To apologise to the country for this calamitous behavior of Dr. Nwodo in deliberately and willfully attempting to void the special convention by not only showing up but forcibly taking over the officiating at the convention before he was overpowered and subdued
* That we hereby pass a vote of no confidence on Dr. Nwodo and ask him to resign his chairmanship of the party, and that if he fails the National Executive Committee of our party should expel him from the party.
*To appeal to the teeming members of our party all over the country who have deserted the party, especially national assembly members and party stalwarts in Oyo, Osun, Plateau, Anambra, Adamawa and other states, since Dr. Nwodo unleashed his high- handedness on nearly every state chapter of the party, seeking to hand-pick candidates without going through the process of primaries to return to the party
* To support the Acting National Chairman of our party, Alhaji Dr. Mohammed Haliru llo to run the party, pending the emergence of a chairman of South East extraction acceptable to party members within the zone, to finish Dr. Nwodo’s remaining period in office.”
But reacting to development yesterday, Nwodo’s Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Ike Abonyi dismissed the decision by the so-called meeting of the party in the zone as of no effect, saying it was a gathering of “busy-body people.”
“Whatever decisions they took in the so-called South East PDP meeting is of no effect because they have no such powers. They are just busy-body people driven by their own interest. Nwodo couldn’t have undermined the project he put his line on the line in the past seven months to achieve which is having a successful national convention and having President Jonathan come through. Even those his political enemies know that without him, the national convention could not have been a huge success. May God bless Nigeria and its dangerous politics,” Abonyi said.
Speaking with reporters at the end of the meeting, the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ekweremadu said they party leaders in the zone want Nwodo to honourably quit by resigning from his position to save him from further humiliation and embarrassment.
Ekweremadu said: “There is a saying in Igbo land that an elder does not stay at home and watch a goat suffer the pains of labour on a rope. A lot of things have happened in the party and we believe we need to intervene to stop further embarrassment. Dr. Nwodo is a prominent son of Igbo land and one of us in Enugu State. He has paid his dues in public service and we don’t want a situation where he will continue to suffer humiliation and embarrassment arising from his occupation of the position of PDP National Chairmanship.
“There are so many people around him who seem to be pushing him into taking wrong decisions. A man who had been out of the political scene for a long time and suddenly fortune smiled at him and he became Chairman of the largest party in Africa the least he can do is to ensure that there is peace all over the country, particularly in his political party and in his state but this did not happen because a lot of people were interested in using him to accomplish their own objective. Unfortunately that is where we are today.
“For us, we believe that the sanctity of the court needs to be maintained at all times and once we begin to disobey court orders flagrantly then that is the end of democracy and probably the end of this country. So we believe anything that is a threat to the sanctity of the court needs to be resisted especially when a court will give an order and somebody purports that that order has been vacated when in fact it has not been vacated, is something we need to take seriously. If we don’t take this action, I am sure that they will take step to charge him in contempt for which he may end up in jail. So, we need to save him all these embarrassments and I hope that he will listen to the voice of reason by quietly resigning.”
Meanwhile, Vanguard learnt from a reliable source yesterday that the plot to unseat Nwodo as PDP Chairman was intensified following the crises that arose from the party primaries in some states.
Although it was unclear by press time yesterday if the presidency was disposed to the plot to unseat Nwodo, it was learnt that some PDP leaders in the South East said to be behind the plot had taken steps to source his possible replacement if the plot succeeds.
Touted to take over from Nwodo are former President of the senate, Anyim Pius Anyim, former Zonal Chairman of the party in the southeast, Nze Fidelis Ozichukwu and current Minister of Women Affairs, Iyom Josephine Anenih.
Nwodo’s greatest undoing, the sources said, was the level of disenchantment in the party, stressing that the enormous powers he has exercised in the last couple of months was allegedly responsible for the disorder in the PDP.
“Since the presidential primaries are over, what the party is faced with at the moment is how to win the general elections. But the PDP cannot go into the general election with the level of disenchantment and disputes here and there. Leaders of the party are insisting that immediate resolutions be embarked upon. You cannot have this with the frosty relationship existing between Nwodo, party leaders and even the governors,” the source said.
Nwodo had been barred from the national convention of the party last week after an Enugu High Court gave an order restraining him from parading himself as National chairman of the party or functioning in that capacity.
However, speculations were rife yesterday that the Enugu High Court order against Nwodo would be vacated by Justice Reuben Onuorah on Monday but that would no longer be as the Enugu State Government at the weekend declared a three-day public holiday to enable the people of the state participate actively in the ongoing Voters’ Registration exercise. By this, the court could only sit on Thursday.
