PDP: Plot To Derail Its Proposed NWC Meeting Unfolds

* How Ugochinyere’s prediction turns out to be true;
* Why some within Abia PDP chapter were hastily used to go after BoT Chair;
* How the fear of Fubara’s growing influence within PDP is unnerving Wike’s camp;
* NWC reads riot act, threatens to deal with trouble makers

By PHC Telegraph

 

Indications that trouble makers within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are planning to truncate the forthcoming meeting of the party slated for next month in Abuja have emerged.

Ikenga Ugochinyere, leader of a group of vibrant opposition lawmakers on the floor of the National Assembly had alerted the nation shortly after the Supreme Court ruling that some persons within the party who have cultivated the habit of constantly throwing spanners in the works will make another effort to scuttle the March meeting.

He urged the PDP Governors Forum and the Board of Trustees to be vigilant, saying that the plot of the naysayers had reached an advanced stage.

Nigerians who have seen PDP Governors and the Board of Trustees move in the  past few weeks to salvage the party from collapse did not have to wait for too long.

A group which is believed to be under the spell of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Nyesom Wike struck as predicted.

Giving Wabara The Ayu Treatment: 

Whereas those who are hatching plots against the PDP are reportedly shopping for a pliable jurist who would be ready to slam an injunction on the party as Ugochinyere disclosed, those who are allegedly working with Illiya Damagum and Samuel Anyanwu, notable members of Wike’s team, chose to give Senator Adolphus Wabara, the BoT Chair the “Ayu treatment”.

Ayu, former National Party Chairman who transformed into an Alhaji Atiku Abubakar supporter on the convention ground in Anuja and on the road to the presidential elections woke up one morning to hear that local party officials in his ward had suspended him.

That plot to keep Ayu quiet and out of circulation was reportedly sponsored by the Governor of Rivers State as he then was and the G5 that he led. It was a befitting response, close Wike associates said at the time, for the role Ayu openly played to frustrate Wike’s presidential ambition.

Insiders say what happened to Wabara bore the same signature. Wabara and the BoT had become thorns in the flesh of party members allegedly collaborating with the APC to undermine their own platform.

Wabara had refused to heed warnings by the pro-Damagum/Anyanwu group that is reportedly working with the Minister to stay away from the fray, according to information we have pieced together.

Instead, Wabara and his associates in the BoT have become more attracted to the PDP Governors Forum where the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed and his Rivers counterpart, Siminalayi Fubara are holding sway.

The recent visits to Port Harcourt by high ranking officials had unsettled the Wike camp which has lost grip of the State party machine of the PDP to forces loyal to Fubara.

Fubara hasn’t said much in the open regarding events that are playing out, but his emerging control of the situation in his State has not gone unnoticed in the court of public opinion.

One of those that have stood astutely behind Fubara who has surfaced as one of those fighting to restore the PDP is Wabara.

Insiders within the party say the plan to dislodge Wabara or rattle the BoT which has been on the drawing board was thus set in motion.

It is not clear if Ugochinyere’s warning of an impending action played any role in the move to act quickly by the pro-Wike group.

Credible sources, some of them from Abia State, are alleging that secret meetings have been going on between ring leaders of the Wike camp and some persons who were being lured to support the destabilisation plan against the PDP.

Money purportedly changed hands between those who are plotting to derail the forthcoming PDP meeting and those who agreed behind the scene in Abia State to embarrass Wabara.

Said a source who spoke to the Telegraph under ananimous conditions, “They were made an offer that they could not refuse. They took the money and signed the paper while the undertakers collected the said document and threw it in the face of the media.”

Push Back From The PDP:

The PDP has since reacted to the alleged suspension of Senator Wabara, its BoT Chair.

The party said the action which has attracted widespread publicity across the country is unconstitutional and of no effect.

Debo Ologunagba, National Publicity Secretary on behalf of the National Working Committee, NWC, in a statement described the action as null and void.

“The attention of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to the purported suspension of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of our great Party, Distinguished Senator Adolphus Wabara from the Party

“The NWC categorically dismisses the purported suspension as null and void and of no effect whatsoever not being consistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017) and laid down Rules of our great Party.

“For emphasis no State Working Committee has the power to suspend or take any disciplinary action against a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Party without due recourse to the NWC as clearly provided under Section 57 (7) of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017)

“Section 57 (7) is unambiguous in providing that; “Notwithstanding any other provision relating to discipline, no Executive Committee at any level, except the National Executive Committee, shall entertain any question of discipline as may relate or concern a member of the National Executive Committee, Deputy Governors or members of the National Assembly…”, the statement disclosed.

It further stated, “The explicit import of Section 57 (7) is that the Abia State Chapter has no powers whatsoever to take any disciplinary action against the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara, being a member of the National Executive Committee of the Party.

“The PDP therefore condemns the purported suspension of Senator Wabara as reckless, unconstitutional and cautions those behind this act in defiance of the PDP Constitution to retrace their steps as the NWC will not hesitate to take appropriate disciplinary actions to preserve the stability of our Party and the sanctity of its Constitution.

“The NWC calls on all leaders, critical stakeholders, members and supporters of our Party in Abia State, the South East Zone and indeed across the country to disregard the purported suspension”, the statement added.

Given the run of events, it is evident that Ikenga Ugochinyere did not lie when he cautioned that something was about to happen in the PDP which might set the stage for the abortion of the planned meeting of the party in March.

The Telegraph understands that serious conversations are ongoing at the moment among leaders of the PDP to truncate the plan by some members to prevent a meeting at the national level that most people agree should take place.