PDP SE Lawmakers To Boycott Convention Over Office Of Woman Leader

By Adesina Soyooye

The, almost, casket-ready Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, seems ready for the mortuary if South-east Federal Lawmakers carry out their threat of boycotting the now threatened National Convention of the Party whenever it will hold.

On Friday, October 31, the Party was hit by a double whammy. First a Federal High Court in Abuja put a stop to its much hyped National Convention scheduled for Ibadan in November when it asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to throw any outcome of the Convention into the dustbin and asked that the PDP puts its house in order and adhere to its Constitution.

As if that was not enough, the Party which is almost wiped off the face of the Southeast zone got another jolt from its remaining Federal Lawmakers from the Zone.

In a statement, the Federal Lawmakers, led by Ugochinyere Ikenga Imo, the Lawmaker representing Ideato North/South Federal Constituency, Imo State are threatening to boycott the Convention.

Why? The Lawmakers say it is over the zoning of the National Women Leader of the Party.

According to them, the office was zoned to the Southeast and was appropriated by the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah to his State.

However, a couple of weeks ago, Mbah dumped the Party for the All Progressives Congress, APC, meaning that Enugu has lost the slot. However, the Lawmakers argue that the fact that Mbah has left the Party does not mean that the office has been re-zoned to another Zone. They say that the plan to zone it to the South-south is a no-no. They accuse the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde of being the mastermind of the plan to re-zone the office to the South-south. They are insisting that Imo State takes the slot and threaten that if it is eventually zoned out of the SE, they will boycott the forthcoming Convention.

They insist that the attempt to take the office away from the zone is a well calculated plot to humiliate and alienate the South-east within the party.

They, therefore,  warned that the PDP will face  further internal disunity and mass defections if the  plan is not reversed before the screening exercise scheduled to take place soon.

Speaking on behalf of the Lawmakers in Abuja, Ugochinyere said  Imo State is expected to produce the next National Woman Leader.

He added that the current Southeast Zonal Woman Leader, Ifeyinwa Arodiogbu, was fully backed by PDP stakeholders in the region to clinch the position before Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu, now in the All Progressives Congress, APC,  influenced the zoning to his state.

Mbah’s defection  to the APC, he pointed out,  has rendered the earlier arrangement invalid, thus giving  Imo State a legitimate claim to the office.

He warned that the lawmakers would issue a disclaimer against the convention in two weeks and would boycott the Convention if Imo State and the Southeast are humiliated.

He, also assured  that no elected lawmaker from the region would remain in the PDP if the office is not returned to the South-east.

He said: “We dont want to see PDP suffer more setbacks. Still, we will stick to our position on the Ibadan convention if, in the next few weeks, the position of National Woman Leader is not ceded expressly to Imo State and an Imo person is allowed to emerge.

“Now that Governor Mbah has left for APC, that earlier arrangement of producing a Woman Leader is not going to stand because Gov. Mbah’s Woman Leader nominee is also in APC with him.

“This brings back a chance for the injustice to be addressed and for Imo State to produce the National Woman Leader.”

Ugochinyere further said that if the zoning is not rectified,  it will provoke the  Southeast and alienate them.

He warned: “This will compound the ongoing confusion we already have in the PDP. If the remaining stakeholders from the Southeast boycott the convention, they are going to bring the party into more crisis.

“If this injustice is allowed to stand, no elected Lawmaker from the Southeast will remain in the PDP. We will also issue a disclaimer against the convention.”

Finally, the lawmakers appealed to Governor Makinde and Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, to intervene.