Drumbeats of disunity at PDP’s unity rally

Clockwise: Orji, Chime, Jonathan, Ekweremadu and Nnamani

The ‘Unity Rally’ by the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South-East last week exposed the cleavages within the party, writes Ozioma Ubabukoh

Days after President Goodluck Jonathan visited Enugu State for the Peoples Democratic Party ‘Unity Rally’ held in Enugu, the state capital, some residents are still counting their losses while others are counting their gains. A cross-section of respondents bemoaned the closure of roads, banks, businesses and markets during the visit. The strict security measure which witnessed the closure of roads, banks and markets was apparently done to ensure the safety of the commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces.

While some hotels in Enugu may have had a field day receiving patronage

from guests who had come from far and wide, many local business owners lamented that the rally, which was held to unite factions of the party in the south-east, affected their businesses negatively.

A resident, Miss. Ifeoma Onwuka, said, “That day was useless as we could not do anything worth the while in terms of work and business and we still cannot imagine why a whole state was shut down just because the President was coming for a party function.”

According to Onwuka, “Schoolchildren couldn’t go to school because vehicles were stopped at very far distances from schools, business and work points. People had to walk long distances and most people, who couldn’t, had to retire home. You can’t imagine one walking so many kilometres away in the sun. Worse still, people’s kiosks and shops were destroyed just to impress Jonathan and make him believe Enugu is clean yet it is becoming one of the dirtiest cities in the country.”

Another resident, Mr. Henry Okeke, said that despite the security they (security agents) tried to provide for President Jonathan and other PDP bigwigs, robbery cases and car snatching were still on the rise in Enugu.

“The crime situation in Enugu is high. In the last seven days, or so, about eight people have been killed in Enugu from armed robbery and car snatching, yet the state government is more concerned about playing politics and fighting its opponents, while the police arrest innocent Nigerianss,” said Okeke.

He added, “All these were happening just four days after officials of the Enugu State Waste Management Authority killed a 17-year-old boy in Enugu. If it is where things work, Jonathan’s media team would have advised the President on the need to commiserate with the family of the deceased.”

Since the President’s ascension to power in 2010, neither has any of his previous visits to Enugu resulted in massive closure of businesses nor the blockage of roads as the last one. Not even when he came for the presidential election campaign in February 2011. The last visit and the manner it was conducted may have triggered off the accusation levelled against the President by the All Progressives Congress, which alleged that the president was campaigning before the stipulated time for the 2015 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The President’s speech at the rally, according to social commentators and public affairs analysts, was a campaign message.

Jonathan had said that the APC was progressing to nowhere and that the PDP was the only truly democratic party in Nigeria. Reacting, the APC described Jonathan as a man desperate for re-election “by hook or crook.”

The APC South-East spokesperson, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, described President Jonathan’s speech as uncouth, un-presidential, adding that it showed a desperate President in quest for second term.

“How can a president mount the rostrum, throw caution to the winds and cast aspersions on our great party, the APC? It means he has not found time to read the manifesto of the APC, which has War against Corruption as the first cardinal programme, a war Jonathan detests,” Okechukwu asserted.

The South-East APC spokesperson recalled that during the North-East zonal rally in Bauchi State penultimate week, instead of the President narrating his efforts in combating the Boko Haram insurgents, he resorted to playing the blame game, using insults and invectives.

He said, “The so-called rally was a grand deception, an extension of the culture of impunity, which is the metaphor of the largest party in Africa. It was a deception in the sense that all the hype that President Goodluck Jonathan was coming to receive into their fold ex-governors Orji Uzor Kalu and Chimaroke Nnamani ended in exposing the intra-party crises in the South-East PDP.”

The PUNCH had earlier reported that supporters of Kalu were prevented by the police from gaining entry into the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium – venue of the rally. The police had labelled them “APC members.” That action degenerated into an exchange of blows between the supporters and the police. The police had equally fought with men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps who they accused of giving advantage to Kalu’s supporters.

There is no love lost between Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji, and his estranged godfather, Kalu. Neither Kalu nor Nnamani showed up at the venue of the rally, which was aimed at uniting various factions of the party in the south-east. The questions on the lips of many are, “Did Kalu and Nnamani ever return to the PDP or have they registered with the APC?”

In a swift response, Okechukwu said to the best of his knowledge, both ex-governors have not registered with the APC.

He said, “But if they come, we cannot, in spite of their baggage, reject them. They are our brothers and in the spirit of inclusion, which our party adopted from day one, we will hand over our constitution and manifesto to them to study and make up their minds. For our first cardinal programme is War against Corruption.”

He said, “It is high time the Ndigbo dropped ancient stereotypes and embrace the APC, for it will be futile to expect a different result from the same party with the same inchoate, nebulous and anti-people programme.”

Another sad development that occurred at the rally was the fight that took place on the podium in the presence of Mr. President. While the rally was going on, about 10 young men sporting “Sullivan 4 Senate” green T-shirts stepped up on the podium and descended on the PDP South-East Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ali Odefa, who was anchoring the event. The youths took away the microphone from him, tore his shirt, beat him up and pushed him off the podium. The President and other PDP bigwigs were on the podium when this happened. Investigations into that incident, however, showed that the assault on Odefa was an offshoot of the friction between the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and Governor Chime. Sources told our correspondent that Chime, his allies and some Enugu PDP stakeholders never liked the fact that having planned and spent a fortune on the rally, the south-east PDP power bloc in Abuja, led by Ekweremadu, hijacked it.

One of the sources said, “For instance, Ali Odefa and the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, kept rendering appreciation to the PDP at the national level, making it look like it was Ekweremadu and the Abuja-based politicians that coordinated and spent money on planning the rally.”

Moreover, Chime never hid his displeasure on the issue when he mounted the podium to speak. He got the microphone from Metuh and said, “… after planning, some people now come here to hijack.”

It will be recalled that a day to the rally some armed men invaded the Enugu residence of the PDP Chairman in Udi Local Government Area of the state, Mr. Uche Ogbodo. The armed men took away both the PDP bus in his custody and his private car. Sources said that the hoodlums, about 10 in number, gained entry into the compound and made frantic efforts to enter the residence but were hindered by the iron door.

Despite the positive sentiments expressed by various speakers at the “Unity Rally” concerning the harmony and cohesion of PDP in the South-East, the infighting within the party are indications that violence might characterise PDP’s primary elections in the region.

Meanwhile, some concerned persons in the state have faulted Ekweremadu’s assertion at the rally that the South-East has benefited more from the PDP than other zones. A journalist and a public affairs analyst, Mr. Abuchi Anueyiagu, described the assertion as “total falsehood,” saying, “It is baseless as it was just a blatant and brazen self delusion aimed at self gratification and deceit.”

He said, “On what basis would anyone make such a false claim? Is it on improved wellbeing and quality of life in the zone? Is it on the provision of basic amenities? Is it on job and wealth creation?” Is it on education? Yet our children in polytechnics and colleges of education have been out of classes since last October and the zone is the worst hit. Is it on the basis of security, electricity or what?”

“If it is airport, there are only two airports in the South-East, yet the South-South has six, out of which three (in Calabar, Port-Harcourt and Yenegoa) are international and no noise is made about them. The Igbo man makes unnecessary noise and self-delusion about himself. (It’s) very unfortunate.”

Ekweremadu’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Luke Mgbo, said that his principal could not have spoken for himself at the rally, but for Ndigbo judging by the population of the Igbo people that turned out to grace the occasion.

He said, “The President has never received such reception from Igbo people in any part of the country. What happened in Enugu was a clear indication that the South-East people have benefited more from the President’s administration than any other zone.

“The people are happy with the projects that have been attracted to the zone, like the international airport, the seaport, the second Niger Bridge, etc, so  the deputy senate president was merely conveying their message to the President. And that message was that they have benefited more than any other zone in the country.”

However, the state PDP and the state government stated that they don’t know who the boys were and who they were working for. The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chuks Ugwoke, said, “As for the t-shirts they wore, anybody can get the t-shirts and wear because it is everywhere.”