Another trouble shooting initiative to restore sanity in the Anambra State chapter of the ruling party has commenced. But it is not surprising that as the peace process was launched, he chief proponent of the move was himself being soiled with mud.

By Emmanuel Aziken Political Editor & Tony Edike

IT was instructive that the inauguration of the latest peace initiative into the crisis ridden Anambra State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, last Monday took place outside the State.

Anambra the state with the nickname, Home for All, has indeed been home to all sorts of notoriety in the recent past. But the state chapter of the PDP atypical of the political trend in the State has found no place for peace at home. Hence stakeholders had to go to Enugu for the inauguration of the latest peace committee to resolve the near decade crisis that has bedeviled the state.

The burden of anarchy has been weighty upon the state as the emergence of charlatans has over time led to the exit of men and women of good conscience from the party. Anambra is conspicuous among the state chapters of the party as the only one that is yet to hold an acceptable congress since the first one that produced the first of state officers in 1998.

The initiative to restore peace to the Anambra Chapter of the PDP was recently given by the national executive of the party with the zonal executive given the mandate of spearheading the initiative in the peace effort.

Lucrative business

Senator Ikechukwu Obiorah who represented Anambra South senatorial zone in the immediate past Senate was so frustrated by the several entanglements that he faced that he had to abandon politics for the lucrative business he had built up before he rejoined politics just before the 2007 elections.

But a number of stakeholders have soldiered on, either leaving the party or lying low as political anarchists who have torn the party’s identity into several fragments.

Among those who have exited the party are Senator Joy Emodi who despite being messed up by the local chapter of the PDP has been found useful by the PDP controlled Federal Government, Senator Chris Ngige who is now an ACN Senator and Senator Ben Obi among other local achievers. Prof. Dora Akunyili also exited the party but her sojourn outside may, however, not have been forthcoming for her.
Others like Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Senator Onyeaobor Obi, Iyom Josephine Anenih have continued to soldier on.

But even as Chief Olisa Metuh, the vice-national chairman of the PDP, Southeast was concluding the inauguration of the 18 member peace committee in Enugu, he was himself dragged into another controversy with a charge of theft proffered against him in a court in Anambra State. Metuh was accused in a petition of swindling the state chapter of the PDP of some amount that is yet to be ascertained. But before he could be arraigned the national secretariat of the party reportedly moved to stop what it considered as a move to embarrass its top official reportedly through Force Headquarters as the case was moved to the zonal command in Umuahia.

Metuh has, however, denied the allegation of pilfering from the state chapter saying that he was neither a signatory nor a state officer of the party.

“This is political witch hunting being perpetrated by a faction in PDP which is bent on causing confusion,” the zonal boss of the party said in his response to the charge of stealing.

Why would a faction seek to cause confusion at the time of peace building?

While the Police dither on the issue of the alleged theft of the party funds, the party in the zone it seems is, nevertheless pushing forward with the reconciliation process.

The reconciliation committee headed by Chief Patrick Agu according to Metuh at the inauguration of the two committees has the main work of reconciling all the different factions of the party in the state.

The strategy committee headed by Senator Onyeabo Obi is to formulate strategies for the formation of a new executive of the party in the state.

Erstwhile Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Josephine Anenih is the secretary of the strategy committee.

Other members of the committee are Chief Anayo Nnebe, Chief Frank Oramulu, Chief Mrs. Chinyere Ogugua, Mr. Vincent Atuigwe, Chief Emma Mbamalu, Barr. Ikechukwu Onyeabor, Emma Iloegbunem, Mrs. Oby Ndiogolu, Mrs. Chinwe Onuora, Tom Nwafor, Chief Okey Ezenwa, Tony Nnaeto, Sir Cajetan Okeke, Dr. Alex Obiogbolu, Mrs. Maria Ejielo and Sam Ekpunobi.

According to Metuh, their terms of reference include “to collate and reconcile the results of the last Chairmanship and Councillorship primaries in the state, listen to petitions, if any, and make appropriate recommendations.”

He said that the committee is also expected to recommend the procedure to be adopted for the emergence of PDP Chairmanship and Councillorship candidates for the next Local Government elections in the state as well as to develop a framework for reconciling the various interest groups in Anambra State PDP.

Addressing members of the committees, Metuh recalled that the party had long been engulfed by a protracted dispute which led to the emergence of different factions, godfatherism and interest groups, resulting in the loss of the state to another party.

“In Anambra, we have been bedeviled with a lot of stories and rumours that are capable of damaging the character of the party leaders. Most members of the party had been abused of corruption or of taking bribe or being partisan in the affairs of the party in Anambra to the extent that nobody in the National Working Committee wants to get involved in Anambra issue anymore,” Metuh said.

“The Zonal Working Committee has therefore decided to bring a group of neutral, impartial, experienced and highly respected members of the party in Anambra to go and handle the problem of Anambra.  Anambra problem can only be solved by Anambra people themselves. So many committees had been set up at different levels in the past yet the problem continued but we are confident that these new committees would restore peace to the party in Anambra,” the South East PDP leader said.

Responding on behalf of the two committees, the Chairmen, Senator Obi and Chief Agu promised that they would do everything possible to ensure that the lingering crises that bedeviled the party in the state were resolved to the satisfaction of all the members in order to reposition the party ahead of the coming elections.

They called on all stakeholders of the party to co-operate with the committees to ensure the realization of the much needed peace and tranquility in the state chapter, assuring that the party would regain all the lost grounds at the end of their assignment.