FIFTY-FOUR days after his emergence as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo was yesterday described as “a mistake” by governors elected on the party’s platform.

They resolved at a three-hour emergency meeting at the Kwara State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja, that Nwodo must prove that he is “a national chairman and not a factional chairman” or he should be ready to leave the party.

Nwodo succeeded Prince Vincent Ogbulafor on June 17, 2010 at the 51stst National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the ruling party after the latter was forced to resign.

At yesterday’s meeting were the host and Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, Bukola Saraki (Kwara); Ikedi Ohakim (Imo); Aliyu Shinkafi (Zamfara); Martin Elechi (Ebonyi); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Akwe Doma (Nasarawa); Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi); Ibrahim Shema (Katsina); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Danjuma Goje (Gombe); Sullivan Chime (Enugu) and Segun Oni (Ekiti).

Others included Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Gbenga Daniel (Ogun); Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa); Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Isa Yuguda (Bauchi); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun) and Adebayo Alao-Akala (Oyo).

The meeting, which ended at 8 p.m., agreed that Nwodo’s conduct was unbecoming of a national chairman.

He was quoted to have declared that he was going to embarrass any governor who comes to his house to lobby him.

Already, the state executive committees in Abia has been dissolved. That of Ogun was ordered to fuse into another group and excos in states, such as, Delta, Lagos, Bayelsa, Rivers, Adamawa, Zamfara, Niger, Bauchi and a few others are under threat of the National Working Committee (NWC’s) dissolution.

Reporters who waited till the end of the meeting were disappointed as the governors, wearing long faces, refused to speak with them.

But, Saraki, when cornered, said it was “a family meeting.” He refused to speak further.

A South-South source, whose state exco is about to be affected because of the influence of a former minister in Abuja, said the governors may ask for Nwodo’s resignation very soon.

“They resolved that the on-line registration should be discarded with and all the excos tampered with should be reversed and the rest should be left intact. They also discussed the planned convention and resolved that it must be dropped.

“On zoning, they could not agree. They, however, decided to leave it till Thursday’s NEC meeting,” he said.

A presidency source disclosed yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan will meet with the governors today at a dinner to declare his intention to run or not.

But, Nwodo has traced the crisis affecting the party to the doorsteps of opposition parties, especially the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

The attack came less than 24 hours after the Action Congress (AC) changed its name to ACN at an elaborate event in Lagos.

Nwodo said the PDP would resist any attempt by the ACN to import thuggery, violence and rigging into the ruling party.

Referring to the Chief Bisi Akande-led ACN as an unstable party, he said, in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, that the PDP is more democratic than other parties.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to spurious speculations of a deliberate plot to stop certain persons from flying the flag of the PDP in the forthcoming general elections.

“The latest speculations, which are obviously the handwork of opposition elements, started with planted newspaper stories alleging that governors elected on the platform of our great party were threatening to decamp in view of the PDP planned review of the Constitution. The sponsors of this baseless story have gone a step further to list the names of office holders whom they claim will be witchhunted for various reasons.

“The Peoples Democratic Party wishes to state categorically that there is no iota of truth whatsoever in these rumours. We wish to state that the era of witchhunting and undue victimisation of party members under whatever guise is long gone in the PDP. With the current reform and repositioning programmes of the party under the leadership of Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, only the votes of party members, in properly constituted congresses, shall decide the fate of any aspirant.

“The PDP leadership will never be involved in arbitrary denial of rights of its members to seek any office; neither will it be involved in conferring undue advantage on any member in the conduct of its primaries. These phantom stories are another failed strategy by the opposition to concoct an atmosphere of crisis in the PDP. Their objective is to strike fear amongst our members and make them vulnerable for backdoor poaching by these desperate politicians.

“We wish to declare unequivocally that while the PDP is an umbrella organisation of divergent views where debate is constantly encouraged, there is at present no crisis threatening its existence or cohesion at whatever level.

“However, the same cannot be said of other political parties that are in total disarray as a result of myriads of crisis; including that of identity. We have particularly noted the constant identity sommersaults of the Action Congress which only yesterday (Monday) changed its name, the third time over the recent past. This crisis of identity is an epitome of inconsistency and accounts for their dismal failure in all previous elections.

“We shall not be surprised if they change their name again before the general elections. As we all know, the name AC has been associated with political violence, rigging and vendetta as evidenced in their horrendous activities in Lagos and Edo State. No amount of change of name will clear away this ignoble image.

“No doubt, Nigerians are better off identifying themselves with a party like the PDP which is consistent and focused rather than continue trailing behind chameleonic groups with no clear agenda or direction”.

But, the National Secretary of ACN, Dr. Usman Bugaje, described the PDP statement as unfortunate.

He said: “That allegation is not true and everybody knows that. He is just talking nonsense because they are the ones fomenting trouble, not only within the AC and other political parties, but across the country.

“Look at the crises in the ANPP, PPA, APGA, everywhere, they are not devoid of the scheming and machinations of the PDP. The only problem they have with us is that we have resisted them in our party. They have tried all they could to scuttle this great party, the only party of the Nigerian masses, and they have failed. That is why they are crying.

“What I can tell you is that PDP’s nemesis is catching up with them. You remember this whole thing started under (former President) Obasanjo, now God is catching up with them. They have perfected the art of violence, thuggery, rigging and other vices that this nation is now battling with. PDP is the problem of this country. That we are changing our name shows that our party is dynamic. PDP is the one that has remained static.”

In Lagos, there are very strong indications that the PDP national leadership will, in less than two weeks, dissolve the state Executive Council.

The Nigerian Compass reliably gathered that when that happens, the National Working Committee (NWC) will opt for a Caretaker Committee to be headed by a former Minister of Communications under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Dapo Sarumi.

Sources close to the party disclosed yesterday that members of the proposed caretaker committee expected to be constituted also include Mrs. Modupe Sasore, Alhaji Kamal Olorunje and Chief Mrs. Aduke Maina, among others.

The decision to dissolve the Hon. Setonji Koshoedo -led state Executive Council (SEC), according to a source, has the backing of Obasanjo and was finally taken on Sunday night at a meeting in the GRA area of Ikeja, attended by many elders of the party in the state.

The source said that some of those that attended the meeting included, Alhaji Shitta, Alhaji Rafiu Jafojo, Olorunje, Sarumi and Ambassador Wahab Dosunmu, amongst others.

The Sunday night meeting, where the elders of the party decided on the dissolution, was preceded by the ones held in Mushin last Thursday and in Ikeja on Friday and Saturday before the Sunday meeting.

A source, who was at the meetings but pleaded anonymity told the Nigerian Compass: “The dissolution will underscore the party’s seriousness to win Lagos. The party does not want people who will make money from the SEC and candidates without winning the elections next year. The caretaker committee will be responsible to pick a candidate for the party and prosecute the election to ensure that the PDP wins election in Lagos next year.

“By the plan that is being put on the ground, the members of the caretaker committee will be men of timber and calibre, who are proven and can win elections. The normal thing of having executives that are only interested in making money and losing election only to cry after is no more acceptable. The party is bent on giving the AC a good fight next year and winning. We are not going to just run for the sake of running”.

Another top member of the party who confirmed it but does not want to be quoted said, “Yes, I can confirm that arrangements have been concluded for the dissolution with the meeting held on Sunday night. Chief Sarumi should be in Abuja this week, if he is not there already where everything will be concluded. I can tell you that Obasanjo is involved but from the background. One thing that is sure is that Nwodo will announce the dissolution soon. The party is serious about winning Lagos and I think, the men and women in the caretaker committee will be able to do it. It is after the election that they will then conduct elections into the SEC”.

The Koshoedo-led executive has been in charge of the party after the 2007 general elections which the party lost to the Governor Babatunde Fahsola-led Action Congress. They were installed by the now incarcerated former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party, Chief Olabode George.

But Koshoedo told our correspondent on the telephone that he was not aware of the development.

Rather, he said that when Nwodo visited Lagos last week, he summoned the SEC members to a meeting, where they updated him on what they have been able to do so far.

He said: “He told us that he would summon all the stakeholders to a meeting and give us an appointment in Abuja soon. That has not happened. They gave him the impression that there was crisis in the party, but he told us that so far, he has not seen anything to that effect”


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