By Tony Edike
THE dissolved Enugu State Executive Committee of the Peoples  Democratic Party, PDP, loyal to Governor Sullivan Chime said the fresh congresses held by the group loyal to the party’s National Chairman, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, was illegal.

Governor Chime’s political camp alleged Sunday that the congresses held at ward, local government and state levels were in disobedience to the directive of the leader of the party, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and other top party stakeholders that the contentious congresses be suspended for both parties to harmonize the party structure in the state as reportedly demanded by the national chairman.

In a press statement signed by Dr. Okey Eze, Publicity Secretary of Chime’s faction, the party noted that the same Nwodo group had turned down the 50-50 sharing formula of the party structure proposed by the national chairman himself and adopted by the National Working Committee of the party for implementation, in line with the agreement reached at a peace meeting by the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, his Vice, Namadi Sambo, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Party, Chief Tony Anenih, the National Chairman of the party and Governor Sullivan Chime.

The statement read: “The State Chapter of the Party feels highly embarrassed by the level of disrespect and illegal actions of the supporters of the National Chairman of the Party capable of destroying the Party’s image and reputation.

“We also condemn in strong terms the level of disregard to agreement the National Chairman and his group have shown to our peace loving President and other top Leaders of the Party, who took painstaking measures and made uncommon sacrifices against the tradition of the Party to reach a compromise between the National Chairman and our Governor.

“The Party therefore wishes to state categorically that the reported gathering of a group of individuals at MacDavos Hotel, Enugu to elect officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is another act of illegality that has no place in the constitution of the PDP. It is a desperate plot to cause chaos in the Party and create a false impression that there is another parallel Executive in Enugu State PDP.

“We are also aware that they have perfected plans with the support of their Godfather, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo to recognize and adopt the results of the party primary election that will be conducted by the new group.”

“Let it be on record that the National Working Committee of our Party since the current face-off in Enugu State Chapter has never officially communicated to the Engr. Vita Abba led State Executive Committee of the Party through proper channels as required by the Party’s Constitution dissolving or directing it to conduct fresh congresses.

“To justify this, it is equally an indisputable fact that the administrative measures adopted by the National Chairman over the Enugu matter have been illegal, considering the fact that the Party has never written us through the office of the National Secretary communicating any decision reached by the National Working Committee (NWC) to conduct fresh congresses in Enugu State.”

The group therefore described as “laughable” the decision by “a dissident group in the State to claim to have conducted congresses in the State based on a newspaper report ordering  fresh  congresses in the State.”

The statement further said since the State Chapter of the Party had implicit confidence in the ability of the party’s NWC to continue to insist on due process and strict adherence to the constitution of the Party, “the public is therefore urged to disregard  the purported congresses in the state as the Engr Vita Abba led State Executive Committee is still in place.”