A free-for-all ensued yesterday in Port Harcourt as a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State held a press conference to demand for the dissolution of the state working committee of the party.
This came as the Chairman of the state chapter of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah, accused a social rights activist and member of the defunct National Conference, Ms Ann-kio Briggs, of meddling into affairs of the party following her criticism of the no zoning policy of the party.
The faction, which gathered under the aegis of Concerned Rivers State PDP Stakeholders, alleged that the party was being run unconstitutionally in the state by a two-man executive.
However, mid-way into the briefing, another faction believed to be in support of Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, stormed the Delta Hotels, venue of the event, and a fracas ensued temporarily disrupting the event.
Chairs, bottles and other dangerous weapons were freely used by both factions as many scampered to safety.
By the time the police arrived the scene and calmed the factions, not less than 10 persons had been injured.
The press conference however resumed after about one hour after the police had restored order and those injured taken to undisclosed hospitals.
Addressing the press conference, the spokesman of the Concerned Rivers State PDP Stakeholders, Professor Israel Owate, said Rivers PDP under Obuah, had “been docile and riddled with inactivity, culminating in mass exodus of our members to the rival All Progressives Congress (APC).”
He called on the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) to dissolve the present party executive in the state, by invoking Part VIII, Section 5, sub-section 5 (2) (e) of the party constitution (as amended).
In place of the state executive committee, Owate said a caretaker committee should be appointed to run the affairs of the party until when another executive committee was elected.
He also called for the conduct of a fresh registration for party members “in order to produce authentic party membership registers for Rivers State PDP”, adding that this should be done before the next primaries of the party.
He said the PDP NWC, in conjunction with the proposed caretaker committee, should formally receive and integrate all returning members in the state, most of whom he said were currently stranded, back into the party and also nullify “all arbitrary suspensions and expulsions from the Rivers PDP.”
Owate also urged the PDP national leadership to abide by and implement the aims and objectives of the PDP Constitution, Chapter 1, Item 7 .2 (c) namely, “Adhering to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness.”
He traced the present situation in the party to the court judgment that brought Obuah to office, adding that it only produced two persons, Obuah as the chairman and Hon. Ibibia Walter as the secretary, without affecting the other 12 members of the state working committee and also the wards and local government officers.
“The Rivers State PDP has (however) been run unconstitutionally by only a two-man executive, a situation which has made the party a limited liability company of those who claimed they incorporated it in the Abuja High Court.
“The running of Rivers State PDP by a two-man executive has adversely affected and disrupted the functioning of the party at the ward, local government, senatorial district and state levels.
“The party does not have a proper membership register and does not have legitimate and properly constituted party officers at the various levels. This is because the PDP officers that defected with Governor Rotimi Amachi took with them PDP membership registers and confiscated some party offices,” he said.
Owate also alleged that Obuah and Walter deliberately collapsed Rivers PDP into the Grassroots Development Initiatives (GDI), a group sponsored by Wike, adding that this had led to the alienation of party members at all levels, a situation which he said had grave implications for the coming presidential and governorship election in the state.
The Rivers State PDP Stakeholders, is believed to be funded by another group, the Rivers Mainstream Coalition, which had been chided by the state executive of the party for trying to “stream-line gubernatorial aspirants” in the PDP.
In a related development, the state Chairman of the PDP, Obuah, has castigated Ann-Kio Briggs for criticising the party over its decision to jettison zoning in the process of choosing its candidates for the 2015 elections.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday by his Media Aide, Jerry Needam, Obuah said it was wrong for Briggs, a non member of the PDP, to speak on issues she knew little about.
According to Obuah, “From her statement, it is clear that she has limited or no knowledge about the activities and policies of our great party, the PDP. It is therefore, unfortunate that rather than admitting her ignorance of political developments in the State, particularly as it relates to the position of the party on the 2015 Governorship ticket, Ms Briggs has chosen to engage in ethnic agitation, which has no place and not on the table of the party.
“To set the records straight, the PDP in the State had earlier and still maintains that its governorship ticket is open to all interested and qualified persons from any tribe or ethnic nationality that constitute the state, and does not at the moment contemplate nor has given its ticket for any elective position to any one as a sole candidate, except its unflinching support and total endorsement of the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who is today our sole presidential candidate for the 2015 election.”
He insisted that nobody or organisation could dictate to the party on how to run its affairs, adding that the PDP would do whatever was in the best interest of the masses.
“We, therefore, call on Ms Ann-kio Briggs or anyone desirous to run any political position on the platform of our great party, the PDP, to register with the party and to come out and test his or her popularity, as such intention will not be denied him/her by the party,” he said.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/rivers-pdp-faction-demands-dissolution-of-state-exco/189811/

Nice one.... Now APC is calling you to join her moving CHANGE train, will you keep quiet?

The beginning of the end!

Always free for all in Rivers State

Later now, they will say it's amaechi Dt is causing. Problem in the PDP

Hypocrisy is the right word to use for PDP in Rivers state. While they are talking and preaching another thing with GEJ's case as a president from the Niger Delta, they are back at home talking a different thing. There are too many selfish and greedy politicians in Rivers state PDP. GEJ and his wife stroke the fire that is about to consume Rivers state PDP now. U don't kill a man just because he has a different view with u. I pity my Riverine brothers because when they were matching on d streets of ph supporting Wike to make Amaechi's government ungovernable, did ever anticipated this? Amaechi told them plain & clear that Wike is a very greedy and wicked fellow but they never listened. They were all blinded by GEJ's ambition as if Amaechi was against GEJ's ambition. As if votes from Rivers state and Niger Delta alone could make GEJ president again. Today, they are fighting to contain Wike. They must live with Wike. Whatever a man sow, he will reap.