GOVS CHIME, SUSWAM, IMOKE SET TO DUMP PDP By Kenneth Atavti, Mike Odiakose PDP stops state chapters from publishing results of primaries There are worrying signals that three key governors supportive of the President Goodluck administration, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State; Governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime and Liyel Imoke of Cross River State may dump the ruling party. Their grouse followed unresolved political crisis in their states by the party’s national secretariat. The Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, may dump the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the Labor Party, one of the opposition parties in the country, to actualise his senatorial dream. Nigerian Pilot Sunday can report authoritatively that shortly after a meeting, where President Jonathan and the leadership of the PDP conceded automatic tickets to 40 out of 72 PDP senators, who want to return to the red chamber, the governors were affected. In Suswam’s case with the decision reached by the party to support Senator Barnabas Gemade to run for the Benue North East senatorial seat in the forthcoming election, the incumbent governor may have lost out. His Cross River counterpart, Liyel Imoke, is allegedly aggrieved and is threatening to join the All Progressives Congress, APC following the PDP’s choice of Senator Victor Edoma Egba. Similarly, Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, who is also bitter over the party’s decision to allow the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu to run on the ticket of the PDP instead of him (Chime), is considering dumping the PDP to run on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA for the senatorial seat. A highly placed source close to the PDP, who hinted this paper of the moves and corroborated by a close aide to the Benue State Governor, who pleaded anonymity, told the Nigerian Pilot Sunday that the Governor is not comfortable with the decision of the party to stop him from contesting the election and he is considering a move to the Labor Party. According to the aide, Imoke and Chime will also follow suit in dumping the party, except the party’s national headquarters reverses its decision and allows a level playing field for all the aspirants rather than imposing the sitting senators on the electorate. However, the paper further gathered that the President and the PDP will engage the party governors in order to allow only experienced Senators to come back in 2015. In the thinking of the party and the Presidency, it pays the country’s democracy to build a stronger legislature by returning experienced lawmakers rather than bringing in greenhorns. Another position taken by the leadership of the PDP was a situation where a Governor, “cannot eat his cake and have it” by showing interest in the Senate as well as deciding who succeeds him. In this case the party ruled that governors interested in picking their successors would not get a senatorial ticket. With these developments, some governors see themselves losing out on their senatorial ambition. For Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, his next political move has been uncertain since the decision of the party. However this paper scooped that he is still consulting on the way forward. In the meantime, the party has banned all the state chapters from publishing the results of the forthcoming primaries. Reacting to an advertorial in a section of the media wherein some individuals purported to have released the result of the election of three man ad-hoc delegates for primary elections in Ebonyi State, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh said only the office of the National Organising Secretary is empowered to release the result of its primaries. Part of the statement read, “The national leadership states categorically that only the National Working Committee, NWC, through the Office of the National Organising Secretary can release the result of the ward congresses for the election of 3 man ad-hoc delegate or any primary election conducted by our great party for that matter. “In this regard, the national leadership will thoroughly investigate this illegality and take prompt action against anybody who may have participated in it.” Metuh also informed all members of the party in Ebonyi State that the national leadership has been notified of the resignation of the State Chairman of the party.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 11:43:32 +0000
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