The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party worsened on Tuesday as its National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, was shouted down by the governors at the party’s National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja.
Trouble started when Nwodo ordered the Enugu State Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Vita Abba, out of the NEC meeting. Nwodo was said to have pointed out that Abba was not the authentic chairman of the PDP in the state.
A NEC member told one of our correspondents in Abuja that the governor of the state, Mr. Sullivan Chime, rose in the defence of Abba.
According to a NEC source, Chime said that as the governor of the state, he was in a better position to know the state PDP chairman.
It was also learnt that Nwodo insisted that since Abba’s name had been deleted at the party’s national headquarters, he had no reason to be present at the meeting.
Our source said that it was at this point that other governors in attendance rose in defence of Chime by asking Abba to ignore Nwodo.
He added that when it became apparent that the NEC meeting would be chaotic, the PDP National Legal Adviser, Chief Olusola Oke, moved a motion for its postponement.
The meeting, which had President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo in attendance, was subsequently shifted to Thursday.
The PDP, in a three-paragraph statement read by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Rufai Alkali, said, “in view of the critical importance of issues to be deliberated upon, the meeting was adjourned till Thursday, December 16, 2010 to give room for further consultations.
“This decision became necessary because of the need to include all stakeholders in the process of arriving at mutually - acceptable decisions.”
Rufai refused to take questions from reporters, saying he needed to be at the Presidential Villa for a meeting called by Jonathan to discuss issues affecting the party.
The meeting was also attended by governors, ex- chairmen of the party, National Working Committee members of the PDP and former and president chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees.
Earlier, the party had announced that members of the NWC would want to meet the chairmen of the party in Enugu, Oyo, Ogun and Anambra states.
There had been reports that the crisis between Nwodo and Chime had to do with who would be the PDP governorship candidate in Enugu State in 2011.
Before the NEC members met behind closed doors, Jonathan had appealed to members to always seek reconciliation and peace in the interest of the PDP.
“This period is quite critical, not for the PDP alone but also the whole country. But the PDP is on top because anything about the PDP is paramount,” the President said.
He reminded the members to be aware that while “any ripple in the PDP would appear like a wind,” in other parties, it (wind) might not even be noticed.”
Jonathan added, “Let me use this opportunity to plead with those of you, especially those that are aspirants at one level or the other, to play the politics that would show that we are members of the same political party. And at the end of our primary election, we must come together to protect the interest of the PDP and no matter the challenges we have, we must realise that other parties want to weaken us.
“Some of the things you read in the newspapers about the PDP members wanting to defect; some of these stories may be true, but some of them are just to weaken us and make us feel that everybody is leaving the PDP.
“We shouldn’t take some of the stories too seriously. But at the same time, we must be mindful of how we conduct ourselves in this process of primary election.”
The President added that since the party controls the National Assembly and also had the majority members among the governors, it should take their views (lawmakers and governors) on any issue seriously.
He said, “We control the Nigerian Governors Forum, because we have more members in the forum. Anything that the PDP governors decide, that’s what other governors take. Of course, we have no choice, because democracy is all about number and by God’s grace, we are in the majority,” he added.
Jonathan also called on the members of the party to cultivate the habit of learning to resolve their grievances internally without resorting to the courts.
He said, “I am calling on all of us to unite and resolve our differences, if there are any, and let us play the politics in a way that we know that we belong to the same party.
“Just like all members of the same body, there is no way you can chop off one of your hands or nose and remain normal. There is no way we can remove any of these organs of the party and the party will remain the same. If we isolate the PDP NWC, there would be no party for us to come to.”
At the Presidential Villa meeting, Jonathan and the governors resolved that the party had the exclusive right to determine the membership of its NEC.
Another source at the meeting which lasted about four hours, said, “The meeting agreed that the party should determine who becomes members of its NEC. All other knotty issues have also been resolved”.
It was gathered that the decisions would be tabled at the reconvened NEC meeting on Thursday.
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