Politics

Ebonyi PDP crisis deepens as ex-guber aspirant threatens to dump party

The crisis rocking the Ebonyi state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has deepened with more bigwigs threatening to dump the party.

The party has been in a serious crisis which affected its chances during the 2023 general election.

After the election, many chieftains of the party dumped the party for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, as peace was expected in the party, the National Working Committee of the party, appointed a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the party.

This caused a fresh crisis in the party with many bigwigs expressing their anger and threatening to dump the party if the NWC insisted on the NWC members who they claimed that some of them are members of the APC.

One of the bigwigs, Christian Usulor has given the party one week to correct the anomaly failure which will make him quit the party.

Usulor, a former governorship aspirant of the party and three-term former House of Assembly member expressed disappointment at the continued factionalisation of the party.

He alleged that the party stakeholders rather than come together to chart a new way forward for the party after the elections, have continued doing things the old way.

He claimed that the same practices and actions that caused the party’s defeat at the 2023 general election were still being carried out by stakeholders.

He further alleged that the newly constituted Caretaker Committee of the party has three known members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

According to him, such high-handedness of the party’s leadership as displayed in the constitution of the committee against the recommendations of stakeholders, has caused serious disaffection and loss of confidence in the party by members across the state.

“The decision to appoint known non-party members into the Caretaker Committee has affected party cohesion, eroded members’ confidence in the party and caused serious dis-affection which is threatening to torpedo the efforts of right-thinking members like myself who are committed to unifying the party and moving it forward in the right direction”, Usulor said.

He further accused the caretaker committee chairman of being autocratic which he said is contrary to the norms and traditions of the party.

“The PDP, as the name implies, is a Democratic party where everyone is carried along in the running and operations of the party.

“But the present Caretaker Chairman in the state is anything but democratic as he has decided to jettison the advice and inputs of stakeholders and members of the party”

He lamented that as a result of the factionalisation of the party and the high-handedness of the Caretaker Committee Chairman, many members who have lost hope and interest in the prospects of the party to bounce back from the trouncing it received in the last election have started defecting to other parties.

He gave an example of one of those key stakeholders who left recently as a former member of the state House Assembly, Mrs Ngọzi Eziulo, who recently defected with thousands of her supporters.

He warned that many other stakeholders and members are still gearing up to officially defect if the factions in the party do not come together quickly to unite the party.

Usulor, son of the Late Senator Usulor, therefore gave the party a one-week ultimatum to put the party in order or he would have no choice but to also leave the party with his teeming supporters.

“I hereby give the party a one-week ultimatum to to correct the anomalies in our great party in the state or else I will also leave the party with my supporters”, he added.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE