Clanging Cymbals of Political war in Ebonyi PDP

Written By Uzor GATTUSO, January 26, 2011

As the political war drum is being hit harder by the day following the series of metamorphoses in the political kingdom of the country, there is every cause for the Ebonyi state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to shiver as the fear of the unknown have carpeted the party and its state executives. The party which has been enshrouded in so many controversies has been trying to  mend fences as a way of rebuilding the broken bridges as well as a way of

bringing to bear their ingenuity in the terms of delivering the incumbent Governor of the state, Chief Martin Elechi under the platform of the party. Some political watchers have opined that the cracks in the National level of the party following the resignation of the former National Chairman, Chief Vincent  Ogbulafor and the crisis that has been trailing the inability of the South East governors to agree on the successor, the state chapters of the party will definitely have some heat. According to Hon. Eze Donatus, the party in the state is already having serious  problem which according to him were not unconnected with the style of the leadership of the party in the state under Engr. Dave Umahi and his executives which he said was unimpressive and unaccommodating.

 The recent concluded local government and ward elections have posed another poser to the level of preparedness the peoples Democratic Party has put in place to muscle any other political party out of the July 10 local government election and also pointed a dangerous arrow towards the forth coming governorship election in the state, come 2011. While the party beat their chests in fulfillment for the conduct of the primary election in the thirteen local government areas, there have been series of mixed feelings where the people say that the wishes of the general masses were not accommodated, adding that the election was conducted in a way that it was marred by irregularities and other social misconducts.

 In so many local government areas where the wishes of the masses were thrown to the abyss, there has been serious political tension in such areas with s a lot of problems brewing for the party and indeed the general public in the state with little or nothing being done by the party to solve or possibly put to an abrupt end the impending doom.

 For instance, it is a well known fact for any body in the state that Onicha local government area is one of the most volatile area in the whole South East  when it comes to politics which made some political analysts said that the party in the state has allowed themselves drunk with the stupendous chalice of political gangsterism and overlooked the problem of the area during the

election. There ought to have been a situation the next chairman of the local government to be a man accepted by both the youths and indeed the entire people of the area but many people say that the election was conducted without any recourse or respect to the rule of law and the emergence of the incumbent chairman, Hon Obasi Nwode was seen as the greatest undoing of the Dave Umahi led PDP and the entire people of the area have resorted to fate, waiting for the next line of action.

The alleged disqualification of some candidates who were seen as the people the masses want by the party in the state have also raised another question on how the party would conduct the council election where candidates were imposed on the people by the party under the influence that the party want strong hand to deliver the governor in the 2011 election. Meanwhile, the state might and the governor are not unaware of the impending pendulum of trouble dangling as a dangerous weapon on the heads of the governor and his political allies as he started strategizing on how to regain power in the forth coming election This can be seen from his action when he reconstituted his Executive Council where he put one of his political spinercord, Hon Celestine Nwali in the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy Matters and Rural Development with a view to making use of his political ingenuity to force the local government

chairmen to return the governor no matter what it may cause them. In some council areas where the chairmen were either perceived to be working against the second coming of the governor or seen as political under dogs that lack the political will or force to return the party and the governor in the election conducted in their areas, they were dropped while some were asked to step down.  The chairman of Ohaozara local government area, Hon. Hyacinth Nwode who incidentally hails from the same area with the party chairman, Engr. Dave Umahi was asked not to buy nomination form by the chairman who was his political god father before fell apart just because he was allegedly reported to stop paying loyalty to him.

 The political imbroglio that trailed the primary election in Ivo local government area of the state where the former Senate President, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim hails from has also left a dangling sword on the forehead of the party which has been battling to keep their dirty linings out from the public. Apart from the internal cracks within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Ebonyi state, the party is also facing serious challenges from some

opposition political parties especially Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA and other parties who have capitalized on their disagreements to thwart the party which was at the verge of cataclysmic vortex of doom.

Some political watchers who have subjected the series of political imbalance in the party say that the party through the chairman has been trying to mortgage the interest of the people of the state by forcefully without respect the laid down rule of the party imposed candidates on the people of the state during the just concluded local government primaries in the state. They however picked hole in the leadership of the state government and the party, accusing them of not being sensitive to the plight of the masses but ha allowed themselves ruled by their insatiable thirst for second term and stalling every other activities in the state. 

 Mr. Ogodo John is a civil servant who spoke to National Daily when he said that the present administration under the elder statesman, Chief Martin Elechi came into power with serious readiness to transform the entire state before he was deceived by those he called political businessmen and turned his back from the activities of the state. He said that the people of the state are still lucky that the governor awarded some contracts before he became so much engrossed with the quest to return to power without completing a single project at the third year of his first tenure.

“I don’t think the governor deserves to come back since all his projects in the first tenure none have been completed or commissioned. That is why I say that our people were lucky that he awarded the contracts then before he started looking for power by all means because he would have not done anything now”  Some people within the party in the state including the former state chairmen of the party like Chief Obinna Ogba and Barrister Okeagu Ogada and even the pioneer chairman, Chief GOC Chukwu who people say was roped into the crisis of Ezza and Ezza-Ezillo to nail him and remove him from standing between the governor and the chance of coming back to office have not been taking it easy with the leadership of the party.

Recently, they held a press conference where they said that they were no longer finding it funny that the party they fought for has now been taken by some people whom they described as opposition like the governor who was in ANPP together with the party chairman and other members of the party while they said that the original owners of the party have been discarded.

The party if care is not taken will not find it easy to wrestle power with other political parties when the ball is set rolling and the chips are down because they can not agree within themselves and fight in unison instead of the series of fractionalization in the party.