S’east PDP Lawmakers Threaten to Boycott Party’s Convention 

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers from the South-east in the National Assembly have threatened to boycott the party’s national convention if the woman leader, which was originally zoned to Imo State, is hijacked by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for South-south.

Checks revealed that the position was initially zoned to the South-east with Imo State the favoured state and current South-east zonal woman leader, Mrs. Arodiogbu Ifeyinwa, billed to clinch it before Governor Peter Mba of Enugu State nominated an Enugu woman who recently followed him to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), thereby giving Imo PDP a chance to clinch the position.

A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Imo Ugochinyere, in a statement issued Sunday, said that they would issue a disclaimer against the convention in two weeks and would not participate if South-east is humiliated by those who want to rubbish an entire region.

He stressed that there is still time to remedy the situation before Tuesday next week’s screening, saying that no elected lawmaker from the South-east would remain in PDP if the impending insult is allowed to happen. 

Ugochinyere added: “The current South-east zonal woman leader, Ifeyinwa Arodiogbu, was unanimously backed by South-east PDP chieftains to clinch the position before  Governor Mbah, who is now in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) allegedly influenced the zoning to Enugu and took the woman leader for Enugu after supporting Governor Makinde to take the National Secretary that belonged to South-east and Imo State to South-west.

“We don’t want to see PDP suffer more setbacks. Still, we will stick to our position on the Ibadan convention if, in the next few weeks, the position of national woman leader is not ceded expressly to Imo State and an Imo person allowed to emerge.

“Now that Governor Mbah has left for APC, that earlier arrangement of producing a woman leader is not going to stand because Governor Mbah’s woman leader nominee is also in APC with him.

“Now, this brings back a chance for the injustice to be addressed and for Imo State to produce the national woman leader. However, confirmed information is filtering in that some people, especially Governor Makinde of Oyo State, are now trying to move that woman leader position out of the South-east to the South-south because of their disdain and disrespect for PDP members from the South-east.

“They want to provoke the entire South-east and alienate them. Because of that, stakeholders from the South-east, led by the federal lawmakers, are now threatening to boycott the Ibadan convention if the position of woman leader is not ceded to Imo State and the South-east is allowed to produce the national woman leader.”

Ugochinyere further warned that the brewing crisis would compound the ongoing confusion in the PDP if the remaining stakeholders from the South-east boycott the convention.

“They are going to bring the party into more crisis. So, the lawmakers are appealing to Governor Makinde, the governor of Oyo State, and Governor Adeleke to use their position as the leaders of the PDP in southern Nigeria to ensure that the position is given to the South-east and Imo State,” he said.