IT was a fall foretold, but not as early as it came. Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, a former governor of old Enugu State, a former Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who was one of those reportedly hounded out of the party by the President Olusegun Obasanjo hurricane, came back to PDP after a serial excursion to other political parties and organisations including the Action Congress and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
However, against all these odds, he was made the National Chairman seven months ago after Vincent Eze Ogbulafor, fell out of favour with the controlling levers of the party. Nwodo once accused of involvement in the National Identity card scam, which became a subject of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) inquiry and prosecution.
What happened in the last few days leading to the sudden fall of Nwodo did not start overnight. The ousted national chairman did a lot of things that quickly put him on the wrong side of PDP leadership. The PDP primaries and state congresses, the Abia State governor's renewed membership, the planned reforms and above all, the fight with Enugu State Executive committee of the party, represent what could be termed the "cardinal sins" of Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo.
Barely three days after his elevation to the position of national chairman, Nwodo had come home to his native Enugu State to hold a thanksgiving service to God for the unexpected favour. At the Holy Ghost Cathedral of the Catholic Church, Ogui Enugu; where the thanksgiving held, Nwodo in his remarks swore to uphold the tenets of democracy, stressing that the bad state of the nation's economy and reputation was caused by its inability to conduct credible elections.
In a voice laden with candour, Nwodo told the congregation that he would not even at gun-point, succumb to intimidation or allow godfathers to continue the bastardisation of the PDP and by extension the nation's polity. Both at the Church and during the reception that followed, Nwodo paid glowing tributes to Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State for "his dogged determination and support" for his selection as national chairman. It was therefore perhaps on grounds of his effusive gratitude to Chime that many observers winced in emotional pain and disappointment when the supremacy battle ensued between the national chairman and his state governor over the dissolution of the state executive committee.
Even at that, the legal disputation of Nwodo's membership of the party seemed quite innocuous until the interlocutory injunction by Justice Reuben Onuora, preventing Nwodo from parading himself as the national chairman of the party during the national convention, which Nwodo looked forward to with glee.
The way the former national chairman handled the defection of Governor Theodore Orji was also seen as less than excellent. People accused Nwodo of handing the governorship ticket of the party to Orji even before the party primaries, thereby expressing doubts over the sincerity of his reform initiative. It was also observed that the former national chairman personally went to Umuahia to urge Orji back into PDP from the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) with a promise of automatic governorship ticket.
Such was the setting when the issue of online membership registration came up, that state governors, who had gleaned an alliance between the national chairman and President Goodluck Jonathan, decided to kick against it, believing that it was targeted at their strong hold on the party structure.
Unperturbed by that glitch, Nwodo warned state governors to stop visiting his home in obvious allusion to attempts to induce him. Many governors were not amused neither did they excuse the affront.
No doubt, therefore, he underestimated the influence of the governors.
An allegation of a secret dalliance with former Vice President, Atiku, started coming to light after Obasanjo's visit where he threatened to quit PDP if divisions in Ogun and Oyo were not solved, expressing worry why Nwodo was not present during the screening of President Jonathan but in office when Atiku came for the same exercise. "All these culminated in the series of meetings that were held after the convention and the signal for the southeast geopolitical zone to pass a vote of no confidence on Nwodo to set the stage for his eventual ouster," the source hinted.
And so another national chairman of PDP of South-East origin falls after seven months in office. This fall appears to give the impression that Nwodo, a medical doctor, is jinxed with brief stints in office. His stay as Executive Governor of old Enugu State was cut short by the military in 1993 just as he was forced out of the secretaryship of PDP by Obasanjo. However in his recent aborted stint, it is quite probable that Nwodo has been made a sacrificial lamb for the PDP zoning palaver especially given his impolitic declaration that zoning was dead. The fall of Nwodo has many-sided implications both for PDP in South-East and the forthcoming elections in Enugu State.
The issue of presidency in 2015 has been canvassed by proponents of zoning in the party and the South-East geo-political is being wooed for that possibility. The fall of Nwodo, who many suspected was secretly working for Atiku could further energise the zone to rethink its support for Jonathan against the backdrop of the perception that Nwodo was used and dumped. It is left to conjecture how the voting behaviour of the electorate would turn out if any of the Presidential candidates of opposing political parties selects its running mates from the zone.
Nwodo: X-ray of a party chairman's ouster (http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35954:nwodo-x-ray-of-a-party-chairmans-ouster&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)