By Suleiman Anyalewechi
Uncertainty and confusion reigned supreme on Thursday, January 16, at the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Rivers State Secretariat in Port Harcourt.
The intense struggle for the control of the heart of the party by two contending groups, earlier in the morning, forced the Police to barricade the road leading to the Secretariat.
The Source reports that a Rivers State High Court had on Wednesday, January 15, nullified the recent Local Government and State Congresses of the Party held two months ago and their outcomes.
The Court had cited a disobedience to a subsisting order halting the conduct of the said Congresses as a major reason.
Following the Court’s verdict, a faction of the party believed to be loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara, appointed a Caretaker Committee headed by Robinson Nname-Ewor to run the affairs of the party.
An attempt by the Nname Ewor-led faction to take over the Secretariat was countered by the Court-sacked executive led by Aaron Chukwuemeka.
The two groups’ insistence on exacting control over the affairs of the PDP, and its attendant threat to public peace, was at the root of Police intervention.
In their separate reactions, the two factions decried the situation on the ground, noting that it does not help the fragile peace in the State.
The Court-sacked Chairman, considered to be pro-Nyesom Wike, the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Minister, urged Governor Fubara to place the peace and stability of the State above political and personal interests.
He lampooned the plethora of Court cases that have trailed the PDP in the State.
The embattled Chairman regretted that while his Executives were still waiting to be served the purported court ruling, some people were rushing to cause anarchy by attempting to give effect to the order.
“While the party is yet to receive the court ruling, it nevertheless plans to appeal the decision once the records are available”, Kingsley Chuku, the Legal Adviser informed.
The sacked Executive Committee further accused the Interim Leadership of being moles planted to front for the All Peoples Party APP, perceived as an alternative political platform for Governor Fubara.
However, while speaking on the development, Ewor, the head of the Interim Committee, informed that they have suspended the planned takeover of the Party’s Secretariat to allow tension subside .
“The planned takeover of the Secretariat has been suspended to avoid the escalation of tensions.” Chukwuemeka stated.
But in the interim too, the faction has emphasized the need for the reinstatement of Governor Fubara as the PDP Leader in the state as a necessary pre-condition for peace.
The leadership of the party in Rivers has been under the FCT Minister, even after vacating office as the Governor on May, 29, 2023.
The development is seen as a clear departure from what is obtainable in other states where the sitting Governor is acknowledged as the leader of the party.
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