Gracia Simeon – Abakaliki

The Chairman People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has described the multiple litigations as the cause of the misfortune ravaging the party ahead of the governorship election.

The PDP chairman Tochukwu Okorie, disclosed this in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen on Friday where he declares support for Francis Nwifuru, the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate.

Recall that the crisis rocking Ebonyi State chapter of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may be far from end as the leaders of the party have refused to sheath their swords.

The party was polarized into two during the primaries last year.

It deepened after the primaries when two leaders of the party; Chief Obinna Ogba and Chief Ifeanyi Odii who were laying claim to the governorship ticket of the party, took their fights to courts; federal, Appeal and Supreme courts which declared Odii as the duly elected governorship candidate of the party.

The crisis however got messier when the National leadership of the party announced the suspension of Tochukwu Okorie as the state Chairman of the party for alleged anti-party activity.

Last week, his Deputy, Ifeanyi Nworie and Legal Adviser of the party, Chief Murdi Erhenede accused Okorie of slamming fresh suits to derail the candidature of Odii the standard bearer of the party.

But Okorie, statement reads “The social and some mainstream media have been circulating the ridiculous claims made by the duo of Barr. Mudiaga Erhenede and Ifeanyi Nworie to the effect that their failing enterprise of installing Mr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii as governor owes to the multiple court cases instituted by me. While I sympathize with the gentleman who has been a victim of the vicious machination of a gang of political jobbers with the duo of Erhenede and Nworie being most prominent, I find it rather gratifying that they sincerely believed that they could, at least, breathe some life into their dead undertaking using my name.

“It is my suspicion that they have run out of excuses after making all sorts of promises to Mr. Odii as a means of sustaining their wicked schemery of obtaining from him continuously. If that works for them, that’s fine. It is not my place to tell their victim to wake up and smell the coffee.

“For the benefit of the few members of the voting public who may be or are being fooled by the fawning craftiness of these deceivers, let me take these two down memory lane. Apparently, they are challenged by selective amnesia and acute cognitive dissonance. While I am not in court with their victim, my claims have always been against an imposter and usurper who they were using as a tool to destabilize the party and weaken the political base of the Leader of the party so as to pave the way for a certain presidential candidate.

” It is on record however that it was Mr. Ifeanyi Odii who, after claiming victory in a cancelled primary election, ran to court the following morning to challenge his own victory. That was the beginning of all pre-election matters before the courts to which I was never and I am still not a party. But of course, Erhenede and Nworie find no better excuse than dropping my name. How convenient.

“That said, it should interest Erhenede and Nworie to know that, I remain the only elected Chairman of Ebonyi State PDP and all their effort at removing me has already splashed mud in their own faces. The matter of the misguided suspension is a subject of pending litigation and is therefore subjudice. I will waste no further energy on those.

“It is a shame that while these political alabaru are smiling to the bank, their victim is being fooled into believing that he is a candidate in the governorship election of March 18, 2023. The voting public deserves to know that the person whom they used to convene a kangaroo State Congress that purportedly hosted the governorship primary which produced Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii was and remains an imposter totally unknown to the party.

“This is the subject of the matter now pending before the Supreme Court after the Honourable Justice Nyako held that an imposter could not have convened a valid State Congress. And since you cannot build something on nothing and expect it to stand, the primary that purportedly held at that Congress and which produced Odii is invalid and of no effect whatsoever. Whether now or later, that question must be answered. Then the scam and the scammers will be exposed for whom they truly are. For the avoidance of doubt, it bears reiterating that the Peoples Democratic Party has NO valid gubernatorial candidate in Ebonyi State. Anyone genuinely hoping to hop on that sunk ship will only blame himself or herself very soon.

“Finally, it is no longer a secret that all the good people of Ebonyi State have now agreed and decided that the power sharing formula of the state is too fragile to be toyed with and remains the only guarantee for peace and mutual co-existence, and therefore must be sustained. It has been generally agreed that it is only fair that Ebonyi North should produce the next governor in the spirit of Equity.

“I hereby lend my voice in calling on the few who are yet to fully grasp the importance of this decision to join hands in ensuring that we do not mortgage the future by subverting the power equation of the state as conceived by our founding fathers. It is only fair that Ebonyi north be allowed to give us the next governor. I congratulate in advance, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonnaya Nwifuru.” Ends