2011: Group Cautions Nwodo   

A political group within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Grassroots Mandate, has disagreed with the party leadership over the outcome of the recent National Executive Committee, NEC, and the National Working Committee, NWC, meetings which authorised President Goodluck Jonathan to run for the presidency in next year’s general election.

•PDP National Chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo.

In a 15-paragraph letter, signed by Mazi Njoku Uwa, Comrade Onyemauche Chime, Anthony Ugwu and Prince Ken Emeakayi, the group urged the Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo-led secretariat of the party to be conscious of their actions and to ensure that they conform with the stipulations of the party’s constitution as amended. This, they noted, was to avoid policy somersault and inconsistency.

It noted in particular the party’s rotational power agreement of 1998 which it said was reaffirmed at the national caucus of 2 December 2002. The letter in part noted that, the office/position of president under the party arrangement is zoned to PDP members in the North for eight years, 2007-2015, and not to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Moreover, the body argued, if the late President Yar’Adua were alive and contesting, it wouldn’t have stopped other PDP members from the North from contesting against and possibly defeating him at the primaries because the position/office was not zoned to him as an individual.

By Chika Chiedozie/Awka.