Ex-Enugu Lawmaker Blasts State PDP Exco Over Silence on Chime’s Defection

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Tuesday, March 28th, 2017

Picture caption: Ex-Governor of Enugu state, Nigeria , Sullivan Chime

By IGNATIUS OKPARA, Enugu

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A chieftain of the peoples Democratic party, PDP and ex-member of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Barrister Nwabueze Ugwu,has called for the resignation of all members the State Working Committee (SWC) of the Party in the state.

Uwgu’s call is based on a verbal attack on the party by the immediate past governor of the state, Sullivan Chime who recently dumped the party.

It would be recalled that Chime had in an interview with the news Agency of Nigeria, NAN in Enugu, explained that his decision to quit the PDP was because the party was dead, “no longer in existence in the true sense of it’’.

The Ex- Governor said he was still making consultations to determine the political party to pitch tent with, pointing out that his decision to dump PDP had nothing to do with his pending corruption case with the nation’s anti graft agency, Economic and financial crimes commission, EFCC.

His words: “The PDP, we used to be members of is dead. The party I joined in 1999 and had the opportunity of leading in the state for eight years is no longer in existence.

“We have two groups claiming to be in charge of the party as chairman. These two, none of them can actually lay claim to the chairmanship of the party.

Ugwu, in a press statement he signed and made available to African Examiner in Enugu monday, said all the party hierarchy in the State should resign over what he called “their suspicious silence to Chime’s statement.

According to him, “Penultimate week, the immediate past governor of Enugu State, Bar Sullivan Iheanacho Chime, himself a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and a top notcher of the embattled party, reportedly in a press conference, made some very insightful but confounding statements on the state of the PDP and declared inter alia that the PDP was not only dead, but had been cremated.

“The very erudite former Enugu Chief executive known for his candour is entitled to his opinion and as a member of the party, it is my very candid opinion that he has enough latitude and clout to ventilate the issue within the party instead of going to the press.

“However, it is not the intengment of this press statement to join issues with His Excellency who may have acted in the interest of our great party.

“My angst and anxiety are fixated on the deafening silence of the PDP apparatus within the state, from the ward, through the Local Government, to the State levels, who has not deemed it fit to respond to that statement, thereby giving the impression that Chime had spoken their minds and those of other PDP members.

‎”This lethargic position of the elected PDP leaders in Enugu State is inexplicable, mischievous, ominous, and worrisome; as it is a manifest complicity.

“This culture of silence then translates to a vindication of Chime’s position, whose thrust is quaint; to wit: that PDP was not only dead, but cremated; little wonder nobody has countered what he has said.

“Enugu State remains in the vanguard of the PDP, what with it producing the highest PDP elected representative in the present government.

“Conversely, it is the ruling party, the APC which is dead in Enugu State and has remained so even with the recent defections.

“I wish to place it on record that the loyalty of the people of Enugu State remains, unwavering and strong, being as it were, that the PDP is still seen as a better option any day given the bungling of the ruling party at the centre and elsewhere under its influence. Enugu State remains in the vanguard of the PDP, what with it producing the highest PDP elected representative in the present government.

“In the light of all these, it becomes incumbent on all the PDP executives in the State, from Ward through Local Government Areas to the State levels to resign en masse for perceived anti-party activities manifest in their complicity and complacent position on Bar Sullivan Chime’s declaration that the party they swore to lead at various levels, was dead and cremated.”