Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt Nyesom Wike’s ambition to become Rivers State governor in 2015 threatens PDP’s plan to rule the state as other ethnic groups insist that power must shift from the Ikwerre to another stock that has never produced the governor All is not currently well with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State. There are strident calls for the dissolution of the state executive of the party led by Felix Obuah, as chairman, and Ibibia Walters, secretary. The agitation, which is being championed by those angling for governor and other elective posts in the state next year, is also for urgent changes to be made in the state executive as it is presently constituted, by the national body of the party in Abuja because the state executive is under the vice-grip of Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education, who also nurses the ambition to succeed Governor Rotimi Amaechi. A stakeholders meeting organised by some PDP chieftains in the state on 23 September, to air their disenchantment over the party’s decision not to obey the age-long zoning arrangement for the governorship position in 2015 election, became violent as party thugs alleged to be supporters of Wike and the Executive Committee of the party stormed the Delta Hotels in the Old GRA, Port Harcourt venue at about 12.30pm, temporarily disrupting the meeting. Chairs and bottles were freely used by the invaders and participants. Before order was restored by policemen from the GRA police station, at,least nine persons were injured including some journalists who were not fast enough to escape the melee. When calm was restored, the faction of the state PDP operating under the auspices of the Concerned Rivers State PDP Stakeholders, called for the dissolution of the state working committee of the party chaired by Felix Obuah. Professor Israel Owate, a former commissioner for Education, explained that the state PDP led by Obuah has been docile, adding that the situation had made some members of the party to move to the All Progressives Congress, APC. [caption id="attachment_11528" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Wike[/caption] The genesis of the problem was the manner of emergence of the Obuah-led Executive. It came via an Abuja High Court judgment delivered on 15 May 2013 that sacked Chief Godspower Ake and Adokiye Oruwari as chairman and secretary respectively; replacing them with Obuah and Walters. The judgement was challenged but at the Appeal Court level, the Obuah executive won. The stakeholders are saying that good as the judgement may sound, it legitimised only two persons: Obuah and Walters, who were the plaintiffs. They pointed out that the said judgment did not affect the other 12 members of the state working committee, just as it did not affect the ward and local government officers. Thus, the Rivers State PDP is accused of being run unconstitutionally by a two-man executive, “a situation which has made it a limited liability company of those who claimed they incorporated it in Abuja in the Abuja High Court”. Based on the aforementioned, Owate alleged that this scenerio has disrupted the functioning of the party at the ward, local government and senatorial districts as the party does not have a proper membership register and does not have legitimate and properly constituted party officers at various levels because the PDP officers that defected with Governor Amaechi allegedly took with them membership registers. The situation, according to those accusing the party leadership and Wike, the party has been deliberately collapsed into the Grassroots Development Initiative, GDI, an organisation that is financed by Wike. GDI has been launched at the state, local government and ward levels. To enhance the mobility of GDI coordinators, 23 new Coaster buses branded with GDI logo were donated to them by Wike. The PDP stakeholders, made up mainly of gubernatorial aspirants drawn from the Kalabari-Ijaw extraction, alleged that GDI now acts in place of PDP in the state. The worry is that Rivers PDP has gradually been collapsed into GDI and has alienated party members at all levels, which would have a telling effect on the presidential and governorship elections. The faction of the party said the planned imposition of the minister of state, who is from the same Ikwerre ethnic group with Amaechi, who was elected on the platform of PDP, contradicts the aims and objectives of the PDP that guarantees “adhering to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness”. Owate further accused the two-man state working committee of stoking the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly by suspending 27 out of 32 members from the PDP, thus making the party to be in the minority in the state assembly. Professor Owate, on behalf of the group said the caretaker committee should formally receive and re-integrate all returning members, most who are currently stranded, into the party; and nullify all arbitrary suspensions and expulsions from Rivers PDP. Less than 24 hours after, the PDP stakeholders addressed the press to forestall the widely perceived governorship ambition of Wike on 24 September, when the Ijaw National Congress, INC, Eastern Zone, comprising Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, declared that it will not support any political party that does not field a candidate of Ijaw ethnic stock at the 2015 governorship election. The INC spoke through its national publicity secretary, Victor Burobu, at a stakeholders meeting for traditional rulers, elders, chiefs and opinion leaders to emphasise the need for all parties in the eastern zone to give regard to the principle of zoning and rotation in choosing a candidate that will represent the party at the 2015 gubernatorial election. The INC spokesman declared:” “There is need for the parties in Rivers State to respect the principle of zoning and rotation in picking candidates that will represent them at the 2015 gubernatorial election. The INC will not work with a political party that will not present an Ijaw as its flag bearer.” Burobo asserted that in Rivers State, any party that did not pick an Ijaw man would not be voted for, because in 1999, the Ijaw willingly relinquished power to others. He said they have waited for nearly 16 years and cannot wait any longer. According to him, as an ethnic group, Ijaw people are responsible with power; and had never oppressed others when they were in power. What has triggered off the groundswell of agitation for adherence to the principle of zoning or rotation was the announcement of the state PDP, on 12 September, at the end of its state executive meeting that the party will not zone the governorship of the party to any group, insisting that “any candidate that is qualified within the party should present himself for the primaries. The party will field the best candidate at the 2015 gubernatorial election”. Obuah disclosed this while presenting a six-point communiqué issued at the end of a meeting of the state executive committee of the party. The communiqué said that, for the purpose of the 2015 elections, the party is poised to reclaim all its lost offices in the state. Consequently, the party shall ensure internal democracy and provide a level playing field for every member seeking to contest any elective position. According to Obuah, in the history of the party, there had not been any time that elective positions were reserved for a section of the state. He stated that elective positions have always been thrown open for any qualified person to contest if the person so desires. He alleged that some of its elders had been calling meetings of aspirants with a view to streamlining and screening them so that a candidate would be selected to represent a section of the state. PDP cautioned an unnamed member of the Board of Trustees of the party, whom it said was trying to hijack the functions of the party. It also warned aspirants and members against attending any meetings or screening exercises not authorised by the party and contrary to the party constitution. The statement, drawn from of the communiqué issued at the end of its state executive meeting, fuelled negative backlashes from stakeholders in PDP and other ethnic groups. On the sidelines of the South-South PDP rally for President Jonathan in Benin-City, Edo State, Obuah told journalists that he would not bother to answer people who are no longer members of the party, because some of those complaining had either been suspended or expelled from the party. It was learnt that so far, the secretariat of the South-South zone of the PDP has so far received 24 memoranda from PDP stakeholders in Rivers State, out a total 32 from the zone. All the petitions are complaining against the Felix Obuah-led state executive of the party and its partisan stance towards the governorship ambition of Nyesom Wike. The internal crisis in the South-South PDP deepened on 24 September, following the sudden postponement of the reconciliation meeting scheduled to assuaged the anger of some party members across the region. The Administrative Secretary, PDP Zonal office, Mr.Usen Edemekong, said the national integration committee of the PDP was slated to meet with all aggrieved members of the party at the regional secretariat along Circular Road in Port Harcourt, but was put off due to President Jonathan’s visit to Edo State. Mr. Dagogo Jack, a Rivers PDP governorship aspirant who was in Port Harcourt for the peace meeting regrettedits postponement. He said he came for the reconciliation meeting but was surprised to be told at the secretariat that the meeting had been postponed. He said it was important for aggrieved members to meet and reconcile in the interest of the party. Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, a founding member of the party who has been expelled by the Obuah-led executive for protesting openly on radio that the party as presently constituted is under the control of Wike, said he was worried that such a crucial meeting meant to bring.