The National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo is under fire for what influential members view as his “subterranean moves” to cause confusion in the state chapters”.

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Ambassador Fidel Ayogu cited the case of Enugu State where the national leadership of the party is said to be planning to appoint a caretaker committee a move he said will jeopardize the chances of President Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential primaries.

In an interview with journalists in Abuja, Ambassador Ayogu questioned why the executive committee of the party which had been in place for more than two years and was instrumental to the granting of waiver to Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo to facilitate his return to the party would suddenly be declared illegal.

“Caretaker committee at this time would be dangerous and would be seen as a calculated attempt to jeopardize the block vote that the people of Enugu state have decided to vote for Jonathan come January 2011 election. The national chairman should disregard the request from the group from Enugu state. It is highly questionable. The time of the primaries is at hand already and no right thinking party uses caretaker committee to select candidate because it does not go down well with the people especially when we have a structure on ground that has been in existence for more than two years. It will affect the cohesion of the party in the state and when that happens, it affects the elections and the
primaries” he stated.

According to Ambassador Ayogu, those championing the dissolution of the party structure in Enugu state and calling for the setting up of a care taker committee are those who are not popular but are interested in contesting election and would want to place their lackeys as members of the caretaker
committee to do their bidding.

Last Wednesday, some indigenes of Enugu State stormed the Wadata secretariat of the party in Abuja to demand for the dissolution of the state executive of PDP led by Engr. Vita Abba.
While receiving these people, the national chairman was said to have assured them that the party would ascertain the facts from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the true status of the Abba-led executive.

“Our concern is that the information available to us indicates that the national chairman knew about the planned protest days it was to be staged,” one of the influential leaders of the party told Sunday Vanguard. “Yet, he encouraged them to come, knowing we have no issue, as a party, with the Enugu chapter.
So, what will he benefit if we create crisis in Enugu PDP?
“Was it not the same leadership in Enugu that gave him the waiver which was accepted before he was made the national chairman? Or is he now saying that he found out after getting to the peak that the ladder with which he climbed to his present seat was stolen?”

With the release of the election timetable by INEC, those pushing for President Goodluck Jonathan to vie for the presidency are pointing accusing fingers at Nwodo over his preference to dissolve state chapters rather than reconcile whatever factions.

“It is surprising to us that he (Nwodo) prefers to appoint caretaker committees rather than reconcile differing tendencies in the state chapters,” a presidency source told this paper. “The first option should not to dissolve but to reconcile, and where you fail, you conduct an election.

“The national chairman, I believe, understands that our constitution does not have any provision to allow caretaker committees to take part in our congresses. So, these people won’t play active roles in the process that will lead to the emergence of our presidential candidate and other positions.