Breaking: Imo: Tsunami Hits PDP; SWC Members Resign En Masse, Dump The Party, Blames SamDaddy

By Charles Igbo

For the Imo State Branch of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Sunday, June 18, 2023, is a sad day. It marks, almost, the end of the once flourishing party in the State.

Members of the Party’s State Working Committee, SWC, have resigned from  their offices and dumped the party. What took place is a tsunami.

At a Press Conference in Owerri, seven of them, including the Deputy Chairman, Sir Martins Ejiogu, the cerebral State Secretary, Hon. (Nze) Ray Emeana, the Woman Leader, Chief (Mrs) Maria Mbakwe, the Youth Leader  Greg Nwadike, State Publicity Secretary, Collins Opuruozor, State Treasurer, Barr. Josiah Eze, and State Vice Chairman, Orlu Zone, Barr. Chibuisi Obido, threw in the towel.

Said the officers after they listed a litany of woes which befell the Party lately: “In view of the foregoing and many other shocking discoveries which will soon be made public, we, the undersigned members of the Imo State Working Committee of the PDP, have resolved to resign our various positions in the Party and dump the Party en masse.”

One of reason they adduced for their action is the Party’s National Secretary/Governorship Candidate in the upcoming November 11 Governorship Election, Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu, popular as Samdadday.

They alleged that he used his office at the national level to destroy the Party in the State. For instance, they alleged that he sponsors thugs against SWC members, sends them to vandalise the State Headquarters, lies against the officers and accuses them of embezzlement of funds for which they had been exposed to physical attacks and assassination attempts.

They, also, alleged that he foisted himself as the Governorship candidate of the Party, and without any consultations, picked a running mate. The morale of PDP loyalists and members has been reduced to zero, they alleged,  triggering the dumping of the Party by a number of high profile members because of Samdadday.

Their action, they disclosed, is just the beginning of the fall of the PDP. They said soon, only Samdadday will remain in the Party.

“We have, today  opened the floodgate of resignations and defections, and in the next couple of weeks, there will be only Senator Anyanwu left in the Party”, they said.

Following is the full text of the Press Conference dated June 18, 2023.

World Press Conference on the Mass Resignation of Members of the Imo State Working Committee of the PDP

“Since 2020 when this Working Committee took over the administrative cockpit of the PDP in Imo State, we have evolved a tradition of being upfront with you as members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm about all issues that trouble our dear State. We have, through such interactions, inspired faith in a better Imo realized through good governance and democratic norms.

“Today, unfortunately, is not for such engagements. In unequivocal terms, we announce to you that the PDP in Imo State has now been damaged beyond redemption by the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu (Samdadday), and the Party is at last moving irreversibly to its terminus.

“It is necessary we remind you that in the last three years, this Working Committee has built a very strong, formidable and enviable PDP in Imo State. To enable the Party realize its promise of being a truly democratic entity, we envisioned the need to expand the internal democratic space by forming nearly five thousand chapters across all the polling units in the State. We took the Party to the people, and that made us the darling of Imo people. We accomplished this task despite our lean resources as an opposition. No other political party has attained this feat in Nigeria.

“More so, we institutionalized the culture of accountability in party administration, and demonstrated a readiness to govern and reform Imo.

“But, since Senator Anyanwu became the National Secretary of the Party, he has never relented in deploying the powers of his office to fight members of this Working Committee and intimidate even ordinary members of the Party. Endless strife, mindless wars and erosion of all democratic values and principles have now defined and defiled Imo PDP.

“Day after day, Senator Anyanwu still sponsors his very few loyalists to cook up puerile petitions against us and flood the National Secretariat of the Party with such inanities. On the basis of those contrivances, he has continued to threaten to dissolve the Party in Imo State, even after we have defeated him at the Supreme Court. Samdadday has remained unrelenting and unrepentant in his destructive agenda.

“Gentlemen of the Press, it is heartbreaking to inform you that some of us in the State Working Committee have severally escaped assassination attempts because of the wicked lies which our National Secretary sold to his violent supporters, that we misappropriated Party funds.

“Yet, it was he, Senator Anyanwu, that sent his aides from Abuja to steal the materials for last year’s congresses of the Party, thereby creating a stalemate that gulped all our resources through multiple and controversial exercises and the appeasement of multiple stakeholders so as to save the Party from not fielding candidates for the 2023 elections.

“When Senator Anyanwu eventually succeeded at crowning himself the governorship candidate of the Party, he convened a meeting of all the LGA Youth Leaders at his residence in Owerri and confessed openly that he had lied to them about financial mismanagement in the Party by the State Working Committee.

“He also apologized to the State Youth Leader for the attacks and elimination attempts he had passed through because of the falsehoods which he (Samdadday) had propagated. He also recanted the lies and repeated the apologies during the only meeting he has had with us as members of the SWC since his emergence as governorship candidate. He said all the falsehoods peddled against us by him were as a result of his fight for survival.

“All of us in the State Working Committee are reputable people who have made their marks in their various areas of endeavour. How could Senator Anyanwu destroy our reputation, and also destroy the Party we have built, simply because of his fight for individual survival? The implication is that if by mistake he is allowed to govern Imo State, he will further destroy our dear State if only that would guarantee his individual survival!

“Last Saturday, armed thugs sponsored by Senator Anyanwu invaded the Party Secretariat and unleashed violence on us. They vandalized our building, smashed all the glasses, beat our security men to a pulp, broke into our offices, and looted everything they could find. This latest attack was the most brazen and audacious attempt to eliminate us. It is curious that the so-called function which Senator Anyanwu claims to have brought him and his thugs to the Party Secretariat was totally unknown to us as SWC members.

“When the State Chairman, Engr. Charles Ugwuh, made efforts to bring the police to investigate the attack, Senator Anyanwu stood against it. Is that not shocking? How can a man who says he wants to make Imo safe again be caught aiding and abetting acts of violence and insecurity even against his own Party members? There is clear danger! There is fire on the mountain! Run! Run!! Run!!! We must now run to stay alive!

“Despite the electoral vigour, creativity and resources which our Party had put into the 2023 general elections, we made a very poor showing simply because Senator Anyanwu directed his loyalists to mobilize and work against the Party and our candidates at all levels in the State. As a responsible Working Committee, we had overlooked all these provocations and proceeded to set up a reconciliation committee ahead of the governorship election. But our teeming members across the State who felt deeply hurt by the actions of Senator Anyanwu have appeared before the reconciliation committee and declared their position, that allowing Senator Anyanwu to hold the flag of the Party is a reward for impunity and remorseless anti-party activities.

“This is the reason that, in the aftermath of Senator Anyanwu’s emergence as governorship candidate, hundreds of senior members of the Party have dumped the PDP. Four serving Federal lawmakers also dumped the Party along with thousands of their supporters in a single day. Those who stayed back have completely lost morale, only looking up to us for direction. And the moment has come.

“How do we explain to generations yet unborn that it was under our watch that one man became the National Secretary and governorship candidate, and also single-handedly chose a deputy governorship candidate for himself? Collegiality, stakeholding and consultations have all taken flight from Imo PDP.

“When the Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha held sway as Leader of the Party, we saw a robust, vibrant, inclusive and functional political party system. Every success recorded by Imo PDP is owed to the ingenuity, resources and outstanding leadership of former Governor Ihedioha. Conversely, all the maladies that have lately befallen us are  squarely the making of Samdadday. And the unjust imposition of Samdadday on us as governorship candidate by the Ayu-led National Working Committee is the second most  cruel occurrence in history after Cain murdered Abel.

“To be very clear, Senator Anyanwu is not running for governorship in November. If he claims to be running, it is not to our knowledge as members of the State Working Committee. The Party does not know what his program looks like. That is if he has any. Governorship campaigns have started, yet the Party does not also know if there is anything like a campaign council.

“The rent for the Party Secretariat has since expired, and the landlord has kept harassing us. Party staff have gone without salaries since Senator Anyanwu emerged as the candidate of the Party. The Party cannot afford to fuel our power generating set and even purchase stationeries for our offices. Yet, someone is parading himself as our governorship candidate. This deceit cannot be allowed to continue, and we cannot lend ourselves as tools for the deception of Imo people. Never!

“In view of the forgoing and many other shocking discoveries which will soon be made public,  we, the undersigned members of the Imo State Working Committee of the PDP, have resolved to resign our various positions in the Party and dump the Party en masse.

“We have today opened the floodgate of resignations and defections, and in the next couple of weeks, there will be only Senator Anyanwu left in the Party.

“Thank you so much for the generosity of your attention.

“Signed:

“1. Sir Martins Ejiogu (State Deputy Chairman)

“2. Hon (Nze) Ray Emeaña (State Secretary)

“3. Comrade Greg G.O.C. Nwadike (State Youth Leader)

“4. Collins Opurozor (State Publicity Secretary)

“5. Hon. Chief Mrs. Maria Mbakwe (State Woman Leader)

“6. Barr. Josiah Eze (State Treasurer)

“7. Barr. Chibuisi Obido (State Vice Chairman, Orlu Zone)”

The SWC members are fiercely loyal to former Governor Emeka Ihedioha who, shockingly, withdrew from the Governorship race, and made way for Anyanwu as a sole candidate.

Speculations are that the decampees are likely to join the Labour Party in order to give the All Progressives Congress a good fight in Governorship election. For now, the PDP seems out of contention in that election. Analysts say it is going to be a battle between the APC and the LP.