THE crisis rocking the Enugu State chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has deepened as the two opposing groups are making subterranean moves to to gain control of the party machinery in the state, with pundits fearing that it might cost the party the state.
The Gaurdian reports that delegates elected in the November 1, 2014 ward congress in the state have alerted the PDP national leadership of alleged plot by Governor Sullivan Chime and his supporters to destabilise the party preparatory to their defection to an opposition party.
According to the newspaper, the butt of the petition addressed to the PDP national chairman, Ahmed Adamu Muazu , is to inform the party leadership of plans by Chime group to switch their support base to another unnamed party.
In the letter dated November 15, 2014, the delegates under the aegis of “Enugu State PDP Delegates’ Forum” also claimed that the governor and his team had already started talking with an unnamed opposition party.
Signed by the chairman and secretary of the forum, Emeka Anieke and Frank Anioma, respectively, the petition also urged the Muazu-led National Working Committee (NWC) to immediately dissolve the Enugu State Executive and reconstitute a care taker committee in its place.
The political battle between forces loyal to Chime and those of the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, had engaged in serious wit games over the control of political structures in Enugu and have serious negative impact for the PDP.
The petition titled “Team Chime: The mole exposed!!” reads in part :
“We wish to alert the leadership of our great party, the PDP of the grand plan by Chime and Local Government Chairmen in Enugu state (Team Chime) to attempt the destabilization of PDP and decamp to another political party. The recent ex-parte order granted by the Enugu State High Court purportedly restraining the PDP Enugu State from acting on the list or names of delegates elected during the party’s congresses is aimed at truncating the peace deal brokered by President Goodluck Jonathan and frustrate the party in the forthcoming general election.
When “Team Chime” invited all the members of PDP Ward Executive Committee , stakeholders and supporters through SMS, to the Court of Chief Justice of Enugu State on Nov 13, 2014, it was clear that the enemy within has decided to unleash the long awaited attack on the party that has brought him so much wealth and fame/notoriety. The infamous injunction and various subterranean moves seeking to undermine the Acting Chairman of the PDP in the State, David Aja, from carrying out his legitimate duties is a clear manifestation that Team Chime is indeed on a mission impossible against PDP before they leave office.
It is now established that the governor is working with agents of destruction to ensure that PDP does not present candidates for the 2015 general elections, while he plans to field candidates on another party platform in the State. He is boasting that he has bought over the national chairman, and that the chairman is not only aware of what he is doing but actually advising him in all his plans.”
They continued :”The issue of ward congress in Enugu state is a settled matter since the party processes were duly followed up to the just concluded local government congresses in the state. If there was no Ward Congress in Enugu State, on what basis did Chime and his group participate in the last Saturday’s Local Government Congress where some of their loyalists were elected as national delegates by three-man delegates elected on November 1 and on what basis did the Appeal Panel seat on the outcome of the Ward Congress?”
We therefore urge all PDP ward delegates and the entire members of party in Enugu state to remain calm and obedient to the national leadership of our great party even as we employ them to take a closer look at what Chime is doing to our party and his disregard to party elder statesmen. We also wish to assure the national leadership of our great party that Chime and his team are alone in their decamping mission as the people of Enugu State is poised to deliver the maximum votes to President Jonathan and the PDP in the forthcoming election.
Finally, A mole is like a tumor that must be expunged before it turns cancerous. We therefore call on the National Working Committee of our great party to dissolve the current State Executive Committee in Enugu State and set up a caretaker Committee in order to halt the current steps taken by Governor Chime and his co-travelers from further taking shelter under our big umbrella while their arms and legs are outside, fanning the embers of strife.”