Zoning palaver: Abia PDP heading towards avoidable crisis,  Onyema Ugochukwu warns

Zoning palaver: Abia PDP heading towards avoidable crisis,  Onyema Ugochukwu warns

* Says necessary party organs sidelined

By Steve Oko

A member of Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Abia State, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, has warned that the party might implode if the controversy triggered by the ‘ strange zoning’ formula announced by the party leadership is not quickly resolved.

The former Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, who sounded the note of warning in a statement he personally issued Wednesday in Umuahia, expressed disappointment over the strange zoning.

PDP, had Saturday, simultaneously zoned its 2023 governorship ticket to Abia North and Abia Central senatorial districts.

The action has drawn wide condemnations with chieftains of the party including former Srnate President, Adolphus Wabara; and the immediate past Secretary to State Government, SSG, Dr. Eme Okoro.

In the statement entitled “That Abia State PDP May Survive”, Chief Ugochukwu alleged that the necessary party organs and elders were not carried along before the controversial zoning was announced.

The statement made available to Wawa News Global, read:”In the last few weeks, Abia State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been involved in numerous controversies, all of which are now threatening to throw the party into confusion, and potential disaster.

“We have had the controversy over the zoning of the governorship ticket of the Party, which has pitted Party members in inter-ethnic vituperations, and has severely polarised the Party, with members exchanging brick bats across the widening ethnical fault lines.

“Then the Party Executive has announced a Zoning formula, which frankly, seems strange in relation to the ordinary meaning of the word “zoning”. Worse still, this zoning decision was taken without engagement of the statutory organs of the Party, such as the State Caucus, making it for all intents and purposes, an imposition.

“In the midst of all this, there are reports that a Chairman has been appointed for the PDP State Elders Committee, outside a meeting of that organ of the party, which amounts to a breach of Party Constitution. And then there are stories, so far unconfirmed, that a Governorship candidate has been anointed for the Party.

“From all these, it is clear that our party is heading towards an avoidable crisis. Thank God we are not there yet. But we need to take urgent action to return the Party to its normal Democratic ways.

“I am therefore calling on the State Chairman, Rt. Hon Dr. Asiforo Okere to take urgent action to call the Party back from the brink, by summoning as soon as possible, a meeting of the Abia State PDP Caucus to discuss these aberrations.

“In the meantime I urge our members to calm down and not exacerbate matters with inflammatory comments.

“It is my belief that our party can always resolve its problems without imperiling our dear party.”

 

Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria.

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