A member of the House of Representatives, representing Ideato North South Federal Constituency, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere (PDP, Imo) has said there was no PDP congress held in Rivers State.
According to Ugochinyere, Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister, had a party with his friends that was disguised as a party congress.
The main opposition party’s state congresses were held last weekend, and were hampered by complaints from various states, including Rivers, Benue, Katsina and Kogi.
Despite an existing court order preventing the process, the congress took place in Rivers.
A conflict has ensued between the National Working Committee (NWC) who authorized the congress and the PDP Governors Forum, which claimed that Governor Siminalayi Fubara should remain party leader in the state.
The party structure is being claimed by Nyesom Wike, Minister of FCT, and his faction after the congress which was boycotted by the state governor and his supporters.
However, the PDP has stated that the process will be reviewed by the party’s organs.
Ugochinyere, who represents G-60 federal lawmakers in the House of Representatives, referred to the Congress held by the Wike faction as laughable and a romp.
According to the PDP chieftain, no PDP Congress was held in Rivers State, rather “Nyesom Wike out of desperation to look good before his dwindling followers who are losing confidence in him held an "Owambe" party and called it state Congress.”
The lawmaker, recalling the interim order that barred PDP from hosting congresses in the state, stated that the party Wike organized for him and his friends was an attempt at futility.
The statement reads, “Take it from me, there is no PDP state Congress yet in Rivers State.
“Wike out of desperation to look good before his dwindling followers who are losing confidence in him held an "Owambe" party and called it state Congress.
“Recall that in July, a State High Court, holding in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and presided over by Justice Charles Wali had issued an interim order stopping PDP from holding congresses in the state.
“The court decision was clear and the Congress was stopped from holding and so if people out of desperation gather to hold a family or kindred meeting from their hideout under the guise of Congress, you can only but pity and laugh at their political frolicking caused by joblessness and desperate quest for power.
“Defying the court orders, some members of PDP hobnobbing with the APC reportedly made an attempt to pass off some family gatherings of their faction as PDP congress.
“The purported Congress is a nullity and an exercise in futility as there is still an existing valid order against any conduct of Congress in Rivers and in view of that, the purported Congress will be set aside as you can’t put something on nothing.”
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