By Tony Edike
DISTURBED by the absence of a representative of Ndigbo in the National Working Committee, NWC, of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, after the removal of the former national chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ebonyi State chapter, has called for his immediate recall.

The group said Nwodo remained the best option in search of who to fill the vacant position he was forced out of, stressing that “as leaders of Ndigbo youths, we find it unacceptable that the South East is not represented in the highest organ of the ruling party”.

The Ohanaeze youth wing asked President Goodluck Jonathan to “recall how Nwodo put in all in his arsenal and defied powerful lobbies to shut him (Jonathan) out of the presidential race over zoning” and initiate moves to recall him immediately.

Speaking to newsmen in Enugu, state youth president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Ebonyi State, Mazi Okemiri Alex, stated that since the crisis in the party had worsened, even after Nwodo was forced to quit, “it is now clear that if his reform programme had been allowed to take effect, the party would have been the better for it now.

“It is now very clear that Nwodo meant well for the party as his reform package would have taken care of the acrimony now threatening the victory of the party at the polls.”

Stating that “the time to recall him is now and not later”, the group contended that all Nwodo stood for in trying to open the gate of the party for those angling to come was exactly what President Jonathan was now preaching in calling for reconciliation and for aggrieved members to remain instead of leaving the party.

Protesting the current state of affairs, he maintained that it was not acceptable to Ndigbo that another person from another zone would be allowed to occupy a sensitive position zoned to the South East “when the Igbo man who was removed gave a good account of himself as a man of integrity.

“I am, therefore, on behalf of Igbo youths, calling on President Jonathan to recall Dr. Nwodo to office as the vacuum created by his exit has remained unfilled and the evidence is seen in the confusion in the party, where the party leadership is unable to solve any of the lingering problems.”

The group further called on “Igbo leaders, especially those who are in PDP and continue to watch while Ndigbo are being sidelined wrongly to rise up now and reject this treatment to Nwodo while some others now in NWC who actually worked against the president are there now holding sway and pretending to be Jonathan’s friends”.

They alleged that those who forced Nwodo to quit the exalted office are enemies of Ndigbo who actually saw the man’s profile rising as one of the voices of conscience for the nation as he strove to restore dignity and discipline to the ruling party.