Guardian PDP expels 14 Rivers commissioners, others TUESDAY, 27 AUGUST 2013 00:00 FROM AZIMAZI MOMOH JIMOH, ADAMU ABUH (ABUJA), KELVIN EBIRI, ANN GODWIN (PORT HARCOURT), CHUKS COLLINS AND UZOMA NZEAGWU (AWKA) NEWS - NATIONAL PDP-LOGO Aide denies alleged Amaechi’s promotion of new political group • Jonathan, Tukur, Anenih meet over Anambra guber polls • Party chairman insists Nwoye, not Uba, is gov candidate AHEAD of this week’s People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) mini-convention, it has expelled its former National Vice Chairman, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja, as well as 14 Rivers State commissioners and Tony Okocha, Chief of Staff to Governor Chubuike Amaechi. But Okocha described the expulsion as illegal and a deliberate ploy to prevent top government’s functionaries from attending the mini- convention this weekend in Abuja. The Rivers State PDP chairman, Felix Obuah, said Jaja and others were expelled from the party for outright disdain for constituted authorities as well as for allegedly being involved in anti-party activities. Apart from Jaja, the names of those expelled from the party are Secretary to the State Government, Mr. George Feyii, Chief of Staff to Government House, Tony Okocha, and Administrator, Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority, Aleruchi Cookey- Gam. Commissioners affected by the expulsion are Victor Giadom (Commissioner for Works), Augustine D. Wokocha (Commissioner for Power), Worgu Bom (Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice), Joe P. Poroma (Commissioner for Social Welfare & Rehabilitation), Ezemonye Ezekiel Amadi (Commissioner for Lands & Survey), Fred Igwe (Commissioner for Sports), Emmanuel Chinda (Commissioner for Agriculture), Mrs. Joeba West (Commissioner for Women Affairs), Mrs. Patricia Simon Hart (Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development), Okey Amadi (Commissioner for Energy), Mr. Charles Okaye (Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs), Dr. Nnabuihe N. Imegwu (Commissioner for Culture & Tourism), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari (Commissioner for Information & Communication) and Mr. Samuel Eyiba (Commissioner for Local Government). Obuah, whose emergence as the state chairman of the PDP in April after an Abuja High Court ousted Godspower Ake, based the expulsion on the recommendations of state PDP evaluation and the party’s disciplinary committee report submitted to him yesterday. “It’s obvious we have 23 commissioners. Right now, 14 have been expelled. We based our decision today on the report we got from the evaluation committee and the disciplinary committee. We are not witch-hunting anybody. The party must move forward, we cannot entertain any form of indiscipline,” he said. Obuah told journalists that the expelled party members failed to appear before the evaluation committee despite their invitation and well-publicised public sitting of the committee. He explained that they did not also deem it necessary to excuse themselves or send in a written report. According to him, those who did not appear but sent in their written reports were accepted. He said the state PDP working committee members met immediately the report was presented to them and accepted the recommendations of the committee that the failure of those expelled to appear before the evaluation committee bordered on outright contempt, insubordination, indiscipline and lack of respect for constituted authorities. Obuah, who had last week called for the expulsion of Amaechi from the party due to the appointment of the President, Rivers State Customary Court, Justice Peter N.C. Agumagu, as acting Chief Judge of the state, said the sanction for the 18 pro-Amaechi members would serve as a deterrent to other party members who would want to show disrespect to the party. Okocha told journalists in Port Harcourt that the party acted in contempt of court because there was already an injunction to restrain the party from expelling some officials of the state government. “If they were reasonable, they (PDP) should know that the matter is in court and as I speak to you, this morning, our lawyers said they have got an order to serve PDP in the state and Abuja. I also heard that they expelled 14 commissioners and eight others were not touched. I challenge them to make public the names of the eight commissioners who appeared before them and they should also tell the world the yardstick used to expel 14 and leave others behind,” he said. He alleged that the primary motive for Obuah’s action was to prevent the state government officials from attending the PDP mini- convention. According to him, the state government has uncovered a plan by the Obuah-led PDP in the state to send other names to disguise as commissioners to represent the state at the convention. “I would like to assure you that we are not perturbed, there is nothing to worry about, the matter is in court and we are going to pursue it to a logical conclusion. I do not also know in any PDP constitution where the party has the powers to set up a committee to begin to question the performance of elected representatives of the state. Do not forget that the people they are talking about were also elected by non-members of the PDP during the election,” he said. The chief of staff also denied an allegation that Amaechi and others were planning to float a new party. “Nothing good will come out of a man who hates you. Your enemy will not see any good about you. This rumour exists in the minds of those carrying it about. The governor has said it many times that he is a member of the PDP,” said Okocha. And to resolve the crisis rocking the PDP in Anambra State, President Goodluck Jonathan is leading a strong team of party leaders to another round of talks today. The party had on Saturday produced two separate candidates for the Anambra State November 6, 2013 gubernatorial elections. While a one-time governor of the state, Senator Andy Ubah was declared winner of the primary election conducted by a faction of the party recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at Emmanus House in Awka, Tony Nwoye was declared winner of another primary election conducted by the Anambra PDP gubernatorial election panel headed by the Katsina State governor, Ibrahim Shema, at the Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka. The Jonathan-led meeting, according to sources within the PDP, would attract the presence of the party National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur; Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, and key stakeholders in the Anambra PDP crisis. Yesterday, Tukur insisted that Nwoye remained the candidate of PDP for the Anambra gubernatorial polls. Receiving the report of the Shema panel at the Wadata plaza national secretariat of the party, Tukur declared that the party leadership would never allow the mandate of the people to be compromised. Pointing to journalists present at the event, Tukur said: “Go and tell Nigerians that Tony Nwoye is our candidate and will remain our candidate. He is the person elected by the people who own the party.” Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the newly-registered Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Malam Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, yesterday offered an insight into why he and other persons chose to opt out of PDP. He said that their move was born out of a resolve not to be part of a sinking ship. After receiving supporters of the party from the South-East geo-political zone in Abuja, he explained that the PDM was registered purely to satisfy the yearnings of Nigerians. Claiming that the PDM was the brain behind the formation of the PDP, Ibrahim who used the opportunity to once again distance former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the PDM, said it was unfortunate that the PDP had drifted from the dreams of its founding fathers. Besides, top members of the PDP in Anambra State yesterday in Awka raised the alarm that the parallel congresses organised at the weekend in Awka by two factions of the party was a clear prelude to losing the governorship seat to a rival political party. Addressing a news conference in Awka yesterday, a top chieftain of the party who also identified himself as one of the founding fathers of PDP, Chief Godian Ezufoh, noted that irreconcilable internal differences and bickering in the party led to the loss of the governorship election on February 6, 2010 by Prof. Chukwuma Soludo to All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA.)
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 09:59:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015