By Tony Edike
ENUGU — POLITICAL  leaders and stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu State, who met with wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, last week, said  that only the conduct of fresh congresses of PDP could restore peace in the state.

The 20-man delegation from Enugu State was invited by the president’s wife to Aso Rock for a dialogue on the crisis rocking the state chapter of PDP.

They told their host emphatically that the delay by the court to resolve the party dispute  brought by the  Governor Sullivan Chime’s faction of the party amounts to “postponing evil day”, just as they  alleged some hidden motives in the action of the court.

They said that the invitation of the first lady followed an appeal from the wife of Enugu State governor, Mrs. Clara Chime, who pleaded for her intervention to find amicable solution to the crisis in the state chapter of the party, which was seriously threatening the re-election bid of her husband.

Mrs. Chime reportedly sought the intervention of the first lady, following  alleged insistence of the government of the state to hold the party down through litigations in court and ensure no candidate other than Chime emerged from the party.

Factional chairman of the party in the state who was part of the delegation that met with the president’s wife,  Chief Reuben Ochi, told reporters in Enugu that the first lady deemed it necessary to invite Enugu leaders, drawn from the three senatorial zones of the state, after the appeal by the governor’s wife, stressing that it was mischievous for anybody to insist that the meeting was at the instance of the national chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo.

Giving details of the discussions at the meeting, Ochi  said though Mrs. Chime had pleaded that political positions be shared equally among contending groups in the state as panacea for peace, the group objected on the grounds that Enugu crisis had gone beyond harmonisation

“We insisted before Mrs. Jonathan that there should be fresh congresses to solve Enugu crisis because that is the only way out. Nobody is ready for harmonisation. Contrary to reports, it was Mrs. Chime who insisted on sharing offices equally, saying that she feels strongly that those working for her husband are advising him wrongfully,” he said.

Ochi further maintained that the immediate past national chairman of the party, Vincent Ogbulafor, should be held responsible for the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party, when he ignored petitions filed by parallel groups that emerged out of the congresses of the state to accord recognition to Governor Chime’s group.