Abia North PDP stakeholders resolve to work together, rebuild party, produce acceptable chairman
By Steve Oko
Major stakeholders of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from Abia North, Friday met in Umuahia, and resolved to put behind their differences and work together as a united family.
They also formally accepted the State party chairmanship slot recently ceded to the zone by the State caucus members, and pledged to produce an acceptable and competent candidate that would protect the interest of the zone.
Wawa News Global reports that ‘Who is Who’ in the Abia North PDP attended the meeting chaired by Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, while some vital decisions on how to reposition the party in the zone were taken.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting that lasted for about five hours, the former Leader, ECOWAS Parliament, expressed satisfaction that the stakeholders had all agreed to put the past behind them and work together as a family.
He said:”We have come to re-affirm our unity and commitment to PDP. We have also accepted the position of State Chairmanship of the party zoned to Abia North.
” We have resolved that we will not allow external influence to decide for us. We want to bring out a candidate that will be truly Abia PDP Chairman of Abia North origin; somebody we can vouch for.
” We also congratulated our House of Assembly members for holding forth. We admonished our members on the need to remain united, and have less acrimony in Saturday’s Ward Congress, and produce acceptable candidates. We can’t continue doing the same thing and expect a different result”.
Senator Ohuabunwa declared that the era of impunity where somebody would stay at the comfort of ones house and write results was over, insisting that the people must be allowed to elect leaders of their choice.
” We have dissociated form the former ways where a leader would sit down in his house and write a list of candidates. No more again! The people must be carried along so that whosoever emerges will be acceptable.”
Asked if the stakeholders had endorsed a candidate for the State Chairmanship position being contested for by six aspirants from the zone, the former Senator Ohuabunwa said they would not endorse but could work towards producing a consensus candidate after further engagements with the aspirants.
” We are no longer endorsing any candidate. It has to be the will and choice of the people. The only thing we can do is to see if it were possible to get a consensus candidate from among the contestants who are all our sons “.
Corroborating this position, the immediate- past Deputy Governor of the State, Sir Ude Oko Chukwu, said the stakeholders had resolved that the era of impunity was over.
He said that henceforth, everybody must be carried along, otherwise any stakeholder or member thinking he could do it all alone would have himself to blame.
The former Speaker Abia House of Assembly said:” The emphasis of today’s meeting was to let our people understand the need for us to stay together and carry everybody along so that even if somebody loses election, he will know that he lost fairly.
” There must be transparency in the process of selecting our leaders. This is because if you come later to reconcile with somebody when he knows you deliberately worked against him, it may be difficult for him to accept reconciliation. So, we have all decided that people must be carried along in all we do as a party.”
Addressing the participants earlier, the former Deputy Governor who expressed delight over the massive turnout at the meeting, urged the stakeholders not to allow PDP to die in Abia North.
He noted that some key members of the party had exited since after the 2023 election but encouraged the remaining ones to stay put and help rebuild the party.
” Do your best to sustain this party. You know that some persons who used to be part of us have left but those of us still remaining should help to revive and grow the party.”
Oko Chukwu urged the members to allow internal democracy to guide them so as not to cause further bad blood among members.
“Now you must carry others along. It’s no longer as before. If you don’t carry people along now, you will be on your own but if you carry people along, and if they lose they will not feel it is conspiracy.”
The former Deputy Governor encouraged PDP members to remain steadfast in their support and committed to the party, predicting a bright future for the party in 2027.
In a remark, the 2023 deputy governorship candidate of the PDP, and former member representing Umunneochi state constituency, Hon. Okey Igwe, said the gathering was to reinforce the commitment of the stakeholders towards repositioning PDP in the zone.
He said PDP remained the most formidable and well -structured political party in Nigeria with membership cutting across all tribes, social strata and religious divide.
The ex-lawmaker who described Abia North as the birthplace of PDP in the state, urged the stakeholders to be fully committed to the revival of the party.
Hon. Igwe who claimed that the party that displayed the PDP in 2023 was no longer formidable, encouraged members of the party to keep hope alive.
” Those that chased us out of power are already in disarray but PDP is still standing. So, we can still do great things. If we can get out axe together, we can be the rallying pot of Abia PDP”, he enthused.
On the State Chairmanship position ceded to the zone he said: It’s a democratic process. We want to have a PDP Chairman of Abia North that will confidently represent us. We have six contestants but we want to get the most competent and best among them “.
Contributing, former governorship aspirant, Chief Jude Udeachara, commended PDP state caucus for zoning the State Chairmanship position of the party to Abia North, and advised that the stakeholders should micro-zone the slot to Council Areas in the district that had not yet produced a state Chairman of the party to reduce tension.
However , the State Women Leader of the party, Mrs Christy Emenike, said every aspirant should be given equal opportunity to test his popularity, arguing that anyone that emerges from a transparent process will win the confidence of others.
Meanwhile only two of the Chairmanship aspirants – Ambassador Loving Okoro; and Chief Kalu Olughu (Isibumba) – attended the meeting, while James Okpara and Ukwu Rox Emma were said to have sent in their apologies for being absent.
Former zonal Vice Chairman and Acting Spokesman of the party, Chief Amah Abraham; and Hon. Kingsley Emaga are also in the race.
Some of the stakeholders present at the meeting were former PDP Legal Adviser, and Commissioner for Small and Medium Enterprises, Gab Igboko (a lawyer); former Commissioner for Boundary and Conflict Resolution, Hon. Imo Mascot Obike; and his successor, Mr Godwin Ndom.
In attendance also were all four serving PDP members of the Abia State House of Assembly from Abia North; former State Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Fabian Nwankwo; former lawmakers, former Commissioners and ex-political appointees, among so many others.
Wawa News Global further reports that it was also a show of financial muscle as the stakeholders made huge donations to bankroll the gathering.
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