By Henry Umoru
ABUJA— THE Board of Trustees, BOT of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday adopted the former Secretary of the party, Dr. Okwisilieze Nwodo, as the next National Chairman of the party.

The meeting which held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja as gathered had the presentation of his name to members in attendance which was finally endorsed by them for onward submission to the National Executive Committee, NEC.

This is coming barely 24 hours after members of the party’s National caucus at its meeting disagreed on the choice of Nwodo as a replacement for Prince Vincent Ogbulafor who resigned as the National Chairman of the party.

At the Caucus meeting, it will be recalled that there was a major setback for Nwodo because he only returned to the party on June 14, 2009 and therefore was not eligible to contest. Nwodo left PDP and contested against it in the 2003 senatorial election, joined the Action Congress (AC) and the Mega Party before returning to PDP.

Vanguard gathered that with the endorsement of Nwodo by the party’s highest advisory body, it has become a preparatory ground for a waiver for him at the National Executive Committee, NEC meeting whenever it holds.

Standards of morality

The BOT which has former President Olusegun Obasanjo as Chairman according to Article 12.80 is among others to ensure highest standards of morality in all the activities of the Party by acting as the conscience of the Party, with power to call to order any officer of the Party whose conduct falls below the norms, offer advice on Party matters to the National Executive Committee of the Party”.

Party members and major stakeholders of the party are of the view that since the BOT is only an advisory body, the endorsement of Nwodo by the body may not hold waters as there must be a waiver before Nwodo could scale through to become the National Chairman of the party especially in line with Article 16.4, which stipulates that, “No member of the party shall be qualified for nomination or election or appointment into any of the office of the party, unless he or she has been a registered member for at least 18 months and is of good financial standing on the party, except there is waiver by the appropriate executive committee”.

Principle of equity

Meanwhile, a group under the aegis, PDP Stability Forum, PSF described the imposition of Nwodo as the next PDP Chairman as not only ridiculous, but negates the principle of equity, justice and fair play, just as they urged the party not to make him the national Chairman against the backdrop that a moral burden looms on his head.

Addressing Journalists in Abuja yesterday, the Convener of PDP stability Forum, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere said, “It is no longer news that erstwhile Chairman of the PDP, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor resigned over allegations of N110m fraud.

It is not only dubious but totally unimaginable that Nwodo who was involved in a $214m National ID card fraud is on his way to being confirmed national chairman of the same party. This double standard is ultimately fraud on its own!

According to him, as part of moves to stop the actualization of Nwodo becoming the National Chairman of the party, the group has already filed a suit in court against the leadership of the PDP, Nwodo, the National Executive Committee, NEC of the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

“Nwodo’s chairmanship will make PDP a butt of jokes and the party and President Goodluck Jonathan cannot afford this. For the PDP to rescue itself from this looming calamity, the party must save itself from this self-destruct agenda of a greedy and selfish few and look beyond Wadata Plaza in this.

“For the bottom line is this, if Nwodo is confirmed, then Ogbulafor needs to be anointed a saint. Days of evil machinations and self-serving strategy of a few must be checked and brought to an end if this nation must succeed.

“To bring this to a logical conclusion, we have just concluded filing a case at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking for a perpetual injunction against Nwodo ‘s aspiration and consideration as a possible candidate for the post of PDP chairman”, he said.

In the suit no : FHC/ABJ/396/201 filed before the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the PDP, National Executive Committee (NEC) , Nwodo and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 1st to 4th defendant respectively, Ugochinyere urged the court to restrain NEC from appointing Nwodo as the National Chairman of the PDP.