By Favour Goodness
The Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Anambra state, Chukwudi Umeaba, has annulled the governorship ward congresses of the party in the state.
Umeaba who was reinstated by an Abuja Federal High Court recently as the state acting caretaker committee chairman of the party announced the annulment on Saturday at a press conference in Awka, Anambra State.
A factional state executive committee of the party led by Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu had on Friday held the ward congresses of the party aimed at producing the party’s governorship candidate in its primary election scheduled for June 26 .
But Umuaba at the press briefing described the exercise as void, stating that the National Executive Council of the party would give a new date for the conduct of congresses.
He said “I hereby suspend the ward congresses of 9th June to elect a three-man Adhoc committee for the governorship primary.
“I will contact the NEC of our great party to give me a new date for the ward congresses that will elect the three-man Adhoc committee for the governorship primary.”
He urged the party members to remain calm and look forward to new developments that would ensure the growth of the party in the state.
He said the party’s primary election would go on as planned, and would not be truncated by the change in leadership.
A chieftain of the party, Samuel Anyakorah, who instituted the case that sacked the Ndubuisi Nwobu state exco, described the Umeaba-led party as the authentic leadership of the party, having been unjustly removed in 2017.
He said “I was the one who dragged the party to court because of that unjust act. We wrote to the then national vice chairman of Southeast, Mr Austin Umahi and even to His Excellency Uche Secondus, but they ignored us.
“That was why we went to court, and thank God today, the authentic leadership of the party has been restored. You can see how happy everybody is. We hope that the party will move on now.”
Reacting, Nwobu, accused those he described as political merchants of orchestrating the judgement that purportedly sacked his exco.
He said “Our attention has been drawn to a court judgement delivered via zoom, which purportedly sacked this executive. We want to tell you there is nothing of such, and it cannot stand.
“I want to tell you that there was another judgment on 24 May 2018, by Justice AO Musa of the FCT high court. That judgement clearly stated the process in which we emerged, and it stated that we fulfilled all the processes, and we were duly elected”
