Rivers PDP Faction Expels 14 Amaechi's Commissioners From PDP

The crisis in the Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deepened yesterday, ahead of Saturday’s mini convention of the ruling party.

The party’s state executive expelled 18 associates of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who has been suspended by the party.

Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan have been at loggerheads, with Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike leading the anti-Amaechi group in the Rivers PDP.

Among those expelled is the immediate past Deputy National Chairman, Chief Sam Sam Jaja.

They were expelled for “failure” to appear before the Osinakachukwu Ideozu-led Committee on Performance Assessment of Political Office Holders, elected and appointed, on the ticket of the PDP in Rivers State, which was set up by party Chairman Felix Obuah.

Also expelled are: Secretary to the State Government (SSG) George Feyii; Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Tony Okocha and the Administrator of the Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority (GPHCDA), Mrs. Aleruchi Cookey-Gam.

The expelled commissioners are Victor Giadom (Works), Augustine Wokocha (Power), Worgu Boms (Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice), Joe Poroma (Social Welfare and Rehabilitation), Ezemonye Ezekiel Amadi (Lands and Survey), Fred Igwe (Sports), Emmanuel Chinda (Agriculture), Joeba West (Women Affairs), Patricia Simon Hart (Water Resources and Rural Development), Okey Amadi (Energy), Charles Okaye (Chieftaincy Affairs), Dr. Nnabuihe Imegwu (Culture and Tourism), Ibim Semenitari (Information and Communications) and Samuel Eyiba (Local Government).

The Rivers PDP also alleged a plot by the governor to scuttle the party’s August 31 special national convention in Abuja through a court injunction.

Okocha, however, said the Obuah-led PDP had no power to expel him and other associates of Amaechi. He described as untrue, the allegation that the governor was planning to scuttle the party’s national convention.

Sources said the decision was to prevent the expelled persons from attending Saturday’s special national convention.

But Obuah told reporters in Port Harcourt that the 18 Amaechi associates were expelled for failing to submit themselves before the party’s performance evaluation committee.

The Rivers PDP chairman noted that the party, acting on the recommendations of its disciplinary and the performance evaluation committee, decided to punish the 18 to serve as a deterrent to others.

Obuah said: “The refusal of the 18 affected persons to send in written reports of their stewardship, if they were not chanced to put up appearance, despite the well-publicised sitting arrangements of the committee is considered as an affront, insubordination and lack of respect for constituted authority.

“The committee duly notified all concerned and was willing to accept any written report from such persons where necessary but did not receive any supervening circumstance that made it impossible for any of them to honour the invitation.

“We had no choice but to show them the way out of the party, because we cannot continue to operate in this disorderly manner, being a serious and disciplined political party.”

The chairman also said the PDP members who did not appear before the committee escaped the sanction because they reached both the party’s leadership and the committee, but most importantly, sent in documentation of their performances, which he said the committee accepted as satisfactory.

The Chief of Staff, however, said: “The PDP does not have such powers to expel me or any member of the state executive council. The matter involving Felix Obuah’s executive is in court. So, it is subjudice.

“We challenge them to publish the names of the eight commissioners who they said wrote to them, why they could not attend the invitation of the so-called performance evaluation committee and which yardstick.

“What they are planning is to use fake delegates to the sub-convention of the PDP that is coming up this weekend. The thing to ask is, why is PDP fighting PDP? A house divided against itself cannot stand. The whole thing looks like people who are ignorant.

“The matter is in court and we are not perturbed. Who are those they said they wrote letters inviting them to appear before a committee? Let them also show us the letters they claimed to have sent out.

“We all know that the PDP in the state has two factions: the original one led by Chief Godspower Ake and Felix Obuah’s.”

Okocha also stated that those alleging that Amaechi and some prominent Nigerians were floating a new political party must be soothsayers.

The chief of staff stressed Amaechi had said he is still a member of the PDP, but declared that if he is suffocated in PDP, he would leave.

On the claim by Rivers PDP that Amaechi and the Rivers Chief Judge, Justice Peter Agumagu, were plotting to get a court injunction to prevent the state’s delegates from attending the convention and to stop the convention in Abuja from holding, Okocha noted that anybody who knew Amaechi would confirm that he would never engage in “a fight of fools”.

Okocha went on: “There is no plan by Governor Amaechi to seek a court injunction to stop the PDP’s convention. Why it is that the party is trying to reduce the number of the state’s delegates, when others are thinking of increasing.

“We expect the party to act wisely by respecting the matter in the Appeal Court.”

The Obuah-led PDP also stated that it had uncovered a “subterranean move” by Amaechi and the newly-appointed Acting Chief Judge of Rivers state, Justice Peter Agumagu, to prevent the state’s delegates from participating in the convention.