FOR the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) another season of intrigues is here: At the centre of the latest crisis is the fate of the party's National Chairman, Dr. John Okwesilieze Nwodo, whose office, his Igbo kinsmen led by state governors from the region want the PDP leadership to declare vacant or he steps down until the suit against him is determined.
Indeed The Guardian learnt if any of these two options appear futile, his ouster may be publicly announced tomorrow.
But President Goodluck Jonathan, the party's leadership and Ohanaeze Ndigbo have waded into the row to save Nwodo's job.
At press time yesterday, members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) were meeting at the party's secretariat in Abuja to prepare the agenda for today's National Executive Committee (NEC) parley over the bid to remove Nwodo from office.
It was learnt that PDP governors and other leaders from the South East have made the stepping aside of Nwodo pending the determination of the a suit filed against his emergence as party's chairman as the minimum condition for sheathing their sword.
Justice Reuben Onuorah of the Enugu High Court had less than 24 hours to the PDP presidential primaries last Wednesday restrained Nwodo from parading himself as the party's boss.
Nwodo's counsel, Prof. Ilochi Okafor, had told The Guardian last Thursday that the order had been vacated by same judge, but the state Director of Litigations and Court Decisions, Mr. Vincent Aneke, said it was not true because he was the only person vested with powers to sign such verdict.
At the time the PDP special convention was going on, Aneke said he had not signed such document. Citing the confusion over the ruling and counter order, the PDP excused Nwodo from presiding over the event.
The Guardian learnt yesterday that following Nwodo's appearance at the convention of the party where President Goodluck Jonathan emerged as the standard-bearer, many party faithful, including some governors, expressed displeasure that the national chairman's presiding over the meeting would discredit the exercise because of the case in court.
The governors, according to sources, drew the attention of the President to it hence Nwodo, who earlier read his speech was later asked to withdraw from the proceedings and allow the Deputy National chairman, Alhaji Haliru Mohammed Bello, to chair the event.
If Nwodo is forced out of office as being speculated, he would be the fifth chairman of party to quit before the end of his tenure.
In what has become the PDP's tradition, only the pioneer chairman, Chief Solomon Lar, completed his terms.
Those sacked either at the instance of the party's leadership or the serving President since 2003 were Chief Barnabas Gemade, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd) and Vincent Ogbulafor.
It was also learnt that after the convention, the governors met following a complaint from the PDP Enugu State chapter and asked the party leadership to take the necessary action, part of which was to ask Nwodo to step aside until the suit is determined.
The South-East zone of the party comprising Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Abia met on Sunday night and resolved that Nwodo should leave the seat.
A source told The Guardian yesterday that the NWC of the party was meeting to work out the agenda for the NEC meeting scheduled to hold at the PDP national secretariat today.
Last night, President Jonathan allegedly met with Nwodo and some elders of the party in Aso Rock to resolve the impasse. Feelers from the meeting indicated that two options were presented to Nwodo – to either resign or step aside pending the determination of the case.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali could not be reached for clarification as his phone was switched off apparently because of the meeting. But an official at the PDP secretariat said "the NEC meeting tomorrow (today) is what they are discussing and from all indications, the chairman may be asked to step aside.''
Part of the resolution of the South-East zonal meeting condemned "without reservation the ignoble conduct of the suspended national chairman of our party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, who by flagrantly disregarding the party's constitution, disobeyed a valid court order by showing up at the special convention and lying to the convention that the order had been vacated brought shame and embarrassment to the party and to us, his kinsmen and women.''
Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo yesterday waded into the crisis that has pitted some Igbo leaders against the national chairman of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, that led to the call for the removal of the chairman from office.
Meanwhile, Ohanaeze has asked parties to the disagreement to sheath their sword, as it perfects plans to bring them to a roundtable to find a lasting solution to the impasse.
Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Chief Olisa Metu, who is the national vice chairman of the party in the South East as well as two deputy governors were among the leaders who met in Enugu on Sunday and passed a vote of no confidence on Nwodo.
They accused him of flouting the Enugu High Court order that restrained him from operating as the PDP chief President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue, who reacted to the development, said "already, we are trying to reach out to certain persons involved in this latest crisis to see how we resolve it.
"We need unity of Ndigbo in all ramifications and certainly, what has happened now does not portray that we are united. We don't have the details yet of what happened on Sunday but the effect has shown that we have a problem militating against our unity and it is not good that this is happening," he stated.
Uwechue, who regretted the crisis, said: "Any sign of disunity that is made public concerning Ndigbo is not good news. We would want such matters concerning our people to be settled within our fold and not to be treated publicly like this one.
"We are not taking sides but this is creating bad impression about our people. It shows there is open disunity. And it is not good for those involved and Ndigbo generally, hence, we want a situation where a level of understanding should be reached on this matter."
But some stakeholders of the PDP in the zone yesterday condemned what they described as "attempt by a few individuals to malign and assassinate Nwodo's character through media campaign".
The stakeholders made up of serving lawmakers drawn from the five states of the zone in a statement signed by 10 of them, said the position of the zonal PDP was not that of the entire South-East, but "that of a few individuals who lost out in the recently concluded primaries of the party in the zone." They said Nwodo should be given fair hearing by the party if he had in any way breached its constitution.
Jonathan, Ohanaeze, PDP wade into crisis over Nwodo (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35844:jonathan-ohanaeze-pdp-wade-into-crisis-over-nwodo&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)