How court order on Rivers’ caretaker committee list compounds PDP crises

Efforts by the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to settle the plethora of crises rocking the party, including those that engulfed its Rivers State chapter of the party by revisiting the contentious Caretaker Committee list, have been compounded by an order from the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The National Working Committee (NWC), after its first meeting on Tuesday following the National Executive Committee (NEC) last week, said it has now been constrained by a court after it promised those involved that the matter would be revisited.

The Rivers State Caretaker Committee List has generated serious controversy since it was released alongside others by the NWC. The list is said to be in favour of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike’s camp, which is fighting for the soul of the party in Rivers State with the incumbent Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

At a pre-Caucus meeting at the Bauchi State Governors’ lodge in Asokoro, the spokesman of the party, Debo Ologunagba, told reporters that the party has decided to revisit the issue of Rivers State, following Governor Fubara’s agitations.

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However, after its meeting on Tuesday, Ologunagba said, “After an extensive deliberation, the NWC noted the existence of an ex-parte order issued by the Federal High Court, Abuja, restraining the NWC from further action with respect to the status of the Rivers State Caretaker Committee List as published.”

“The NWC, therefore, resolved to, in conjunction with the PDP Governors’ Forum, intensify action in the continuing consultation to resolve the issues of the Rivers State PDP Chapter amicably,” he added.

While the party was still trying to find a way around the Rivers’ crisis, the fallout from its last week’s NEC meeting has triggered a gale of defections in Imo State, with notable stakeholders, including former Governor Emeka Ihedioha, resigning from the party.

As a fallout of the NEC meeting and the unresolved impasse concerning the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, many stakeholders have decided to dump the opposition party. As of the last count, not less than 20 members of the party, including former Governor and Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, have resigned from the PDP.

A highly placed source hinted that two main reasons were responsible for the mass defection from the party. First was the outcome of the NEC meeting, which extended the tenure of the acting National Chairman Umar Damagum instead of allowing a substantive replacement from the North Central, where the suspended National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu hails from.

The second reason, according to the source, is also the issue of the National Secretary of the party, Samuel Anyanwu, who went to contest the last governorship election in Imo State and was asked to vacate his seat. The South East Caucus of the party even nominated a replacement in Udeh Okoye to take over from Anyanwu, but litigation and counter-litigations saw the return of Anyanwu to office.

Even the Board of Trustee (BoT) Chairman, Adolphus Wabara, made reference to the development as part of the issue weighing down the party during the last BoT meeting just before the NEC last week.

The PDP, however, downplayed the defections, stating that only two notable individuals had left the party, emphasizing that politics is about interests.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ibrahim Abdullahi, told Daily Trust that it is not true that people are leaving the party in droves. He said, “There is only one notable Nigerian, a former governor of Imo State and a former BOT member, and those two cannot be said to be people leaving in droves.

“These are people who are pursuing their own interests, which is essentially what politics is about. We are wishing them well. Politics is about interests, and if that person could not realize his interest in the PDP, and for someone who had been a founding member of the party, a former deputy speaker, a former governor, I don’t know what is left for him to achieve.”

Speaking on the assertion that the outcome of the NEC might be responsible for the uneasy calm in the party and the defection by some of its members, he said, “The party has been in order. I don’t know the part of the constitution that the party violated by allowing Umar Damagum to continue to act in office. Because that is the misgiving that many of them have. The constitution provides that if a chairman from that region is leaving office for any reason, the deputy from that region can act. Also, it does not specify a time limit; the constitution is silent on a time limit. You can act for as long as two or three years. It does not have a time limit.”