Fides Media Living the Faith
By Ikeugonna Eleke
The State Executive Committee of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Anambra State, led by Mr Ndubuisi Nwobu, has returned following the judgment of the Court of Appeal on Monday, reinstating it.
The Nwobu-led committee, it will be recalled, had been dissolved by the national leadership of the party, following a court judgment in a suit instituted by Mr Samuel Anyakorah, which challenged the leadership.
But the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division in a recent judgement, had reinstated the Nwobu-led executive, thereby validating the candidature of Mr Valentine Ozigbo, who emerged from a primary election conducted by the party, against Senator Ugochukwu Uba, who had emerged from a parallel primary election.
Nwobu, who briefed journalists on Wednesday at the state party secretariat in Awka, last Wednesday, said the Court of Appeal judgment had totally put to rest, issues about who the authentic candidate of the party was.
‘You are aware that I’m back and the appellate court has put to rest the issue of the leadership of the party in this state.
‘Some people got a court order which they know cannot stand just to disrupt what we are doing. We only made a sacrifice by stepping aside to ensure that a candidate emerges because we know that the election of a candidate is bound by time.
‘Now that Ozigbo has emerged, he has our collective support, and we will work for him to win the governorship election. We are at home with Ozigbo and we are going to work with him to ensure he wins. There is no doubt about who the candidate of the party is any longer, because that has been settled by the judgement of the Court of Appeal.
‘We are not surprised about the court order which removed us. This started in 2002 and perpetuated by people who are using the party for merchandizing. They come out every election period and play the same game. We knew it was a temporary game,’ Nwobu stated.
He thanked members of the party’s board of trustees in the state for coming together to support him and ensure he returned as chairman of the party in the state, but pledged to sack members who were unwilling to turn away from anti-party activities.
‘I want to thank the BoT members and other leaders of the party, and all members of the party and its leadership at the grassroots. We are happy that the wishes of the people of Anambra have come to be, and we urge them to rally round the candidate of the party and drum support for him.
‘We will commence moves to immediately reach out to our party members, especially the aggrieved ones, and try to woe them back into the party. But for those who are not easy to bring back to our fold, and have proven to be consistent with fighting the party, we will show them the way out. People who are hell bent on remaining in their old ways, we will sack them, but for those ready to change, we will visit them and try to bring them back to us when they show remorse,’ Nwobu further stated.
Reacting to the news that a member of the party’s BOT, Senator Joy Emordi, had left the party, Nwobu said the party was truly worried each time a member left; and more so when it was a top ranking party official, but said his leadership would not fail to reach out to its members and woo them back to its fold.
‘We worry when any of our member leaves our party, much more when a BoT member leaves. There is a clear message now that there is only one PDP in the state and we will reach out now, and not by mere words of mouth, to see that we assuage the persons in the area that he or she feels we did badly and also get assurances that they are not leaving,’ he explained.