By Tony Edike
ENUGU—TENSION has gripped leaders and members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Enugu State following Wednesday’s warning by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that the party stood the risk of jeopardizing its chances in states where inconclusive congresses have continued to cause crisis.

Stakeholders of the party in Enugu State who reacted to the INEC’s position, including former Minister of Health and a one time Commissioner at INEC, Chief Silas Iloh, former House of Representatives member and now a senatorial aspirant for Enugu North, Chief Frank Ugwu, and other aspirants to National Assembly in the forthcoming general elections, said it had become clearer to the people of the state that it had been the insistence of INEC that made them believe that only  fresh congresses would bring respite.

Iloh, who expressed concern over attempts by some people to scuttle the party’s chance in the coming elections, appealed to INEC and all government organs concerned with the electoral process “to ensure that the dissolved PDP executive in Enugu and the governor did not use processes of litigation to truncate the desire of the people of the state to elect a new set of party leaders for the state”.

Other politicians in Enugu, who reacted on the fresh INEC warning to PDP on the flawed congresses in some states, agreed in their separate comments that since it was now clear that it was INEC that had continued to insist on the fresh congresses, it expected that all those who had been opposing that directive would make a u-turn and embrace the congress.

Speaking in the same vein, Hon. Frank Ugwu, Chief Raph Ugwu, a former senatorial aspirant, Gen. Chris Eze (rtd), stated that they were  surprised that a democratically-elected government in place in Enugu was resisting a congress within the same ruling party.

They said they believe that INEC’s insistence on fresh congresses in the affected eight states must be obeyed so that the commission can begin to set the tone for an electoral process that can instill discipline in the polity which had been heavily abused in the past years in the country.

They also expressed happiness that INEC made the reminder so that those who went to court to stop the congresses in Enugu would realize the enormity of the consequences in view of the fact that the elections are fast approaching.

The new development has certainly increased political tension in the state with those in favour of the fresh congresses being in a seeming state of vindication and those against the congresses scurrying into further strategies on what to do next.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal in Enugu could not continue hearing of the PDP case yesterday as the presiding justices of the court could not form quorum. The various parties in the case, however, agreed to return to the court on Monday when a full panel of the court is expected to sit.