By Tony EZE

IT is utterly amazing that a man who had been in a political lacuna for a sustained period of time was thrown a political lifeline and climbs unexpectedly back to a great height through a particularly strong ladder literally, only to dramatically jettison the same resilient ladder he used in getting back to the top as not being fit for that purpose, within just a few months of exploiting the same ladder.

It is equally amazing that a man keeps behaving through to type without learning lessons from past mistakes as a way of keeping himself out of further political trouble for once, squandering further political capital coming his way once again in a most dramatic fashion.

As much as it pains me to be dealing with this subject matter, especially at this auspicious moment politically, I have to ask publically as I have asked myself several times privately: In whose interest is the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, acting when he decided that the same State PDP Executive that gave him the waiver that enabled him to become the National Chairman of PDP in the first place was an illegal one?

Should that not make the same waiver granted to him by the so- called ‘illegal Executive’ null and void ab initio? How can Nwodo justify his continued occupation of the office of the National Chairman of PDP if he says that he is not a member of PDP by personally rendering his own waiver granted by the Vita Abba-led State PDP Executive illegal? Should Dr. Okwy Nwodo not throw in the towel now and resign as our National Chairman if he has any ounce of political decency left in him?

What leads me to putting my thoughts on this subject in writing at great pains, I dare add as I hardly have the time to be commenting on ridiculous political issues, is that it beats my comprehension totally, why an outstanding governor who has gone out of his way in throwing a political lifeline to somebody who since ceased to belong to our party, will be rewarded by such political act of perfidy. Everything cannot be excused as being done in the name of politics as integrity in one’s dealings must always remain paramount, politics or not. Integrity in the conduct of one’s political life must remain sacrosanct.

The National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Nwodo had announced in a terse statement through one of his aides that the party’s National Executive had dissolved the State Executive of PDP in Enugu. This announcement took members of the National Working Committee of PDP off guard. The decision to dissolve the Executive was never taken anywhere and at any time and so, the National Chairman was only pursuing a personal agenda known only to him and his political family, but apparently not concerned about the severe political damage being done to PDP in the State. Do you think that Dr. Nwodo does not know that attacking the current Executive in Enugu the way he has been doing will severely curtail the ability of our Party in retaining Enugu State in next year’s election?

President Goodluck Jonathan, has summoned the National Chairman and the State Governor, to a meeting designed to fulfill the promise he made to the three members of the National Working Committee, NWC: Deputy National Chairman, Haliru Mohammed Bello; National Secretary, Abubakar Baraje; and National Legal Adviser, Olusola Oke, that he was going to intervene and address the issue when the National Chairman returns from his trip to the United States of America, USA. At the NWC meeting held at Legacy House in Abuja, NWC members confirmed that Nwodo did not carry them along when taking important decisions. They particularly referred to the ‘sack’ of the Enugu State Executive as being a particular case in point and that it was wrong for Nwodo’s Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Ike Abonyi, a non-NWC member, to issue such a sensitive statement on behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Ordinarily, one would have thought that the backing of a home governor in actualising a position of National Chairman of our great party would in turn be a formidable asset for the Party in the State, in doing the right thing as far as internal democracy within the party and in consolidating the hold of the party in the state especially with a performing governor in office but what has since been playing out is a case of a chicken forgetting who sheltered it in rainy season. It is not good enough either blaming the National Chairman’s younger brother’s huge taste for lucre for the National Chairman’s  actions as the buck stops at Dr. Nwodo’s Wadata Plaza desk. No excuses.

It has long been speculated that attempts by the National Chairman to undermine the party structure in Enugu and a few other states has more to do with a hidden agenda for a particular presidential candidate from the North than it has to do with all the excuses being given by the Nwodos. Why can we not get it right for the first time? Whenever a Nigerian is out of office he says all the right things but give him back that office and expect him to implement those right things? Never.!

Coming from the same local government area as the Nwodos and having had a first hand experience of the Nwodos political treatment of their loyalists, I was one of those who said that my governor will end up utterly regretting his backing for them. The Governor’s motives were of course completely altruistic but this has resulted in his beneficiaries reverting true to type by betraying the belief and trust reposed on them. The leopard never changes its spots as they say.

Dr. Eze, a political analyst, writes from Nsukka.