By Tony Edike
A member of Enugu State House of Assembly, Mrs. Elizabeth Ezeugwu, has been suspended by her colleagues for attending a Goodluck/Sambo rally organized by a faction of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Enugu State loyal to the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo.

Also, stakeholders of PDP in Enugu State have condemned what they regarded as a show of shame demonstrated by Governor Sullivan Chime at the National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the party held in Abuja last week.

The suspension of the female lawmaker last week is already generating ripples among members of the State Assembly who were allegedly influenced by the governor to sanction her for being disloyal.  Mrs. Ezeugwu is said to be one of the victims of the ongoing crisis rocking the state chapter of PDP since October when the Vita Abba-led Executive Committee of the party was dissolved by the National Working Committee.

Vanguard learnt that an ad-hoc committee set-up by the Speaker, Eugene Odoh, to investigate allegation of misrepresentation of the House against the lawmaker, recommended her indefinite suspension from the Assembly without allowing her to explain why she attended the campaign rally.

The committee also recommended that her chairmanship of the Committee on Poverty Reduction and Human Development be handed over to another member of the House till  further notice.

A report signed by Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Mr. John Anichukwu, and two other members, Anikwe and Mr. Michael Onyeze, said that Ezeugwu’s activities were capable of bringing the House to disrepute.

Following submission of the report, the Assembly, rather than holding plenary to deliberate on it, sat in the office of the Speaker, Mr. Eugene Odoh, and suspended Ezeugwu who represents Igbo-Eze South state constituency in the House.

The lawmaker, who was furious over the development, has, however, threatened to engage a lawyer to challenge her suspension from the House in court.

Reacting to her suspension over alleged ‘misrepresentation of the House’, Ezeugwu described as “false’’, allegations that she used her position to extort money from members of the public.

“They accused me of attending a Goodluck Jonathan/Namadi Sambo rally at Igbo-Etiti.  I was there because I am one of the coordinators of the campaign. The so-called committee that investigated me did not invite me, nor did they hear my side of the story before handing down the suspension,’’ she stated.

According to her,  one of the authors of the report, Chief Paul Anikwe, is also a coordinator of Jonathan/Sambo campaign for Ezeagwu and yet, he has not been considered for suspension by the House.

Ezeugwu said  she saw her colleagues enter the speaker’s office one after the other and that the speaker asked her to excuse them.  Odoh had asked her to excuse them only for her to be served a copy of the report recommending her suspension few hours later.

However, Enugu State PDP stakeholders in a statement signed by Senator Fidelis Okoro, Senator Hyde Onuaguluchi and Professor David Ngene, frowned on the recalcitrant attitude of some members of the party in the state and called for support from all other stakeholders to ensure that the party retained its dignity and secured electoral victory at the forthcoming elections.

The statement reads: “The stakeholders expressed surprise that some members of the party are opposed to having a morally and legally binding and justifiable congress in the state, meant to exercise the true spirit of democratic tenets and produce acceptable records and candidates in line with the peoples’ wish.

“Why should democrats be afraid of congress?”

The forum also condemned the show of shame demonstrated by Enugu State governor, Sullivan Chime, at the PDP NEC meeting of December 14, 2010, in Abuja, calling on the governor to conduct himself as a true democrat and eschew his continual display of wanton political ignorance and rascality that had cast the state in bad light.”

The PDP stakeholders faulted the governor’s alleged disrespectful attitude of addressing Mr. Vita Abba as the state chairman of PDP which, according to them, constitutes an affront to the National Working Committee of PDP.

They, however, advised the governor to desist from being disloyal to the national chairman and called for total support from all PDP stakeholders in the re-branding of the party, which is an idea of Dr. Nwodo.