The attention of the National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), South East Zone, Hon. Goodluck Chidiebere Egwu, has been drawn to a purported suspension of Hon. Amah Abraham Nnana, Abia State PDP Chairman, and Hon. Austine Nwachukwu, Imo State PDP Chairman, by a faceless group claiming to be the PDP State Chairmen Forum.
Let it be categorically stated and without mincing words, that this charade is illegal, fraudulent, and dead on arrival. It is nothing but a reckless political joke taken too far by desperate elements seeking to destroy the PDP from within.
No one, and I repeat, no one has the power to suspend a duly elected state chairman outside the provisions of the PDP Constitution. Section 35 of our constitution is clear and unambiguous about who has such powers: the National Executive Committee (NEC), or the relevant Ward, Local Government, and State Executive Councils.
Therefore, this suspension by the chairmen forum, being without constitutional basis, is null, void, and of no effect whatsoever because they don’t have the right to do so. This is to say the least please.
As the National Vice Chairman, South East Zone, I want to make it abundantly clear that Hon. Austine Nwachukwu and Hon. Amah Abraham Nnana remains the authentic, duly recognized, and constitutionally elected Chairmen of the PDP in Imo and Abia States respectively.
The National leadership of our great party has not, and will never, endorse such illegality. The leader of the PDP in the South East, Distinguished Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who also doubles as the National Secretary of the PDP, shares the same position as me.
The only “offence” of the “suspended” duo was that they exercised their constitutional rights by seeking judicial redress over observed anomalies in the sale of nomination forms; a process that was supposed to be supervised by the NEC. We are in a democracy, not a dictatorship. Seeking justice in court can never be an anti-party activity. When due process is violated, redress must be sought legally, not through intimidation and blackmail.
This desperate act of suspension is part of a grand design by enemies of internal democracy to silence truth and weaken the party from within, but I promise them that it will never stand. Hon. Nwachukwu and Hon. Amah only went to court to seek redress, and didn’t tow any part to jeopardise the interest of the party.
Let it also be known that Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has done enough harm to the PDP and should desist from exporting his brand of crisis to the South East. He has been busy fraternizing with those who have long been expelled, Chief Ali Odefa as a pointer, and with defectors like Peter Mbah of Enugh State, in a bid to destabilize the party in our zone. Today, Peter Mbah has left the PDP for the APC, yet Makinde continues to use his men to sow discord. What a shame.
The same goes for Senator Adolphus Wabara, who his Ward has long suspended, and Senator Ben Obi, who is parading himself as the secretary of a so-called national convention committee that has not even been ratified by the NEC. The foundation of that entire convention arrangement is so fraudulent. You cannot build legality on illegality.
As you are reading this, the signature of distinguished Senator Samuel Anyanwu was forged by mischief makers, so that they can force the convention down the throats of the PDP adherents. National Secretary Anyanwu has already alerted relevant security bodies to that effect.
Worse still, Chief Ali Odefa, who has been expelled from the party by a competent court of jurisdiction, was involved in signing documents for the convention. Anything bearing his signature or participation in PDP affairs is invalid, illegal, and politically worthless. How can such convention hold when imposters like Ali Odefa, defectors like the governors of Enugu and Bayelsa States are parts of the organisers? Please, i need a saner clarity on this.
I am also using this medium to seriously warn the Edo State PDP Chairman, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, and the acting secretary of the said chairmen forum, Sir Edward Percy, to desist from importing crisis into the South East. Those who think they can please their political paymasters by destabilizing the PDP in our zone should remember that when the South East rises, it rises in one accord. If they don’t know, they check their records.
The founder of the PDP was from the South East, Chief Alex Ekwueme, former vice president during the time of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, he began the PDP from the G-34 group, the record ls are there. The PDP is South East, and the South East is PDP.
We are currently at a crossroads. What we need now is discipline, reconciliation, and respect for the rule of law, not impunity, arrogance, and political rascality. Those playing with fire should tread carefully.
We may not currently have a PDP governor in the zone, but we have men of honour and integrity. The only governor we had contributed nothing to the growth of the party and was more of a liability than an asset. His exit is liberation, not a loss.
As leaders, we must remember that history is watching. Let every one of us act with dignity and foresight, so we can be remembered as those who defended truth, not those who sold it for political crumbs.
The so-called suspension of the Imo and Abia State PDP Chairmen is hereby declared null, void, and of no effect. It’s empty, fraudulent, and cannot stand.
Signed:
Hon. Prince Ify Chijioke
Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, National Vice Chairman, PDP South East Zone