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The chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Vitalis Abba, has said
that the dissolution of the executive committee of the party in the
state by the national secretariat last Saturday, was the handiwork of
mischievous and self-centred elements in the state.

Mr Abba said the
people responsible for the action, who he did not name, took advantage
of a parallel executive committee to mis-represent and instigate the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) into recommending
fresh congress.

The national
secretariat of the PDP, on Saturday, announced the dissolution of the
committee. In a letter signed by Ike Abonyi, the media aide to the
national chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, the party also set up an
eight-member Congress Committee headed by Anthony Agbo to conduct fresh
congress. Enugu is Mr Nwodo’s home state and he was its governor in the
Third Republic.

“The Enugu State
Chapter of the party wishes to state that the said action is only but
the handiwork of mischievous and self-centered elements in the state,
who want to take advantage of a non-existent parallel executive
committee of the party in the state to misrepresent, manipulate and
instigate the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) into
recommending fresh congress of the party in Enugu State,” Mr. Abba
said.

“It is on record
that the current executive committee led by Engr. Abba was duly elected
through a process that kept faith with the composition of required
delegates for the state congress as stipulated in Article 12(40) of the
PDP Constitution,” he said.

Mr Abba also said
that the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Enugu State, Abdu
Bulama, who monitored the congress with other officials of the
commission did a report on the exercise on March 3, 2008, adding that
the executive committee had always enjoyed the confidence and support
of the national leadership of the party since its inception till-date.

He, however, argued
that it is not the prerogative of any individual to dissolve or
reconstitute a state executive committee, adding that it breaches
laid-down procedures of the party.

The sacked chairman
urged members of the party in the state to remain calm and law-abiding
as measures are being taken to resolve the issue at stake.

“In the face of the
recent contentious development, we urge our teeming party faithful in
the state to remain calm and law abiding as measures are been taken to
constitutionally resolve the extant issues. It is also what noting here
that this matter is currently before a Federal High Court in Enugu
State,” he said.

More states in trouble

Meanwhile, anxiety has gripped the executive committees of the PDP in eight other states where elections are being contended.

The states are Ogun, Kano, Adamawa, Oyo, Plateau, Imo, Bayelsa and Delta.

INEC had in a
letter signed by Regina Omo-Agege, the INEC Director in charge of
political party monitoring, to Mr Nwodo last month, criticised the
manner the committees in the states emerge, saying it breached the
provisions of the party’s constitution.

The letter
generated heat in the party, prompting the national working committee
(NWC) to meet and direct the national legal adviser, Olusola Oke, to
ask the electoral body to stay away from the matter since, according to
it, was an internal one. However, the commission insisted on the party
following the guidelines.

Reports from the affected states on Sunday, indicated that members
of the executive committees jittery that the national secretariat may
also dissolve them. A source said that some of them are planning to
visit Abuja during the week to stop their possible sack.