Rivers PDP: A Crisis Foretold

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State

The hitherto peace and unity that prevailed in the Rivers State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) seems to have given way to a crisis-prone party with two parallel secretariats
By Lawson Heyford, Port Harcourt
An uneasy calm now pervades the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers state as the Abuja- based party members from the state appear set to engage their home- based counterparts in what political pundits have termed a “ Clash of the Titans”. Already, there are two parallel state secretariats of the party.
While Chief Godswill Ake, a former vice chairman of the party in the South south heads the home-based party secretariat located at No. 31 Aba- Port Harcourt Expressway, Lolo Ibieneye, the party’s 2007 campaign co-ordinator and former commissioner is in charge of affairs at the Abuja- based PDP secretariat located at No. 25 Oheato Street, D/Line, Port Harcourt.
The home-based politicians parade such political bigwigs as Governor Chibuike Amaechi as its leader; Magnus Abe, a lawyer and  Secretary to the State Government; Chief Nyesome Wike, the Chief of Staff, Government House and Prince Uche Secondus, national organising secretary of the party.Similarly, the Abuja-based politicians have among them former governor of the state, Dr. Peter Odili; former Minister of Transport, Dr. Abiye Sekibo; the immediate past state governor and cousin to Amaechi, Sir Celestine Omehia and the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Austine Opara.
Until recently, and since Amaechi took over the mantle of leadership as the number one citizen of the state, the PDP in the state had remained peaceful, though docile and not very effective even with the  party executives at the state, local government and ward levels. The ousting of Omehia as state chief executive and his replacement by Amaechi on October 25,2007, six months after the April 14, 2007 governorship election, led the Abuja- based politicians to go on  self-exile and subsequent  relocation to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Last week,  the two secretariats petitioned the party’s national chairman, Dr. Okwesileze Nwodo, attacking each other. The Abuja group said the current executive members of the party were handpicked by Amaechi in collaboration with Ake and Secondus without the conduct of congresses as required by the party’s constitution. According to them, the governor “has imposed the reign of a minority cabal comprising of his friends from other political parties who were opposed to our efforts in the 2007 election, his cronies and stooges into critical positions in the government of Rivers State.” The Abuja politicians who described themselves as the founding fathers of the PDP in the state therefore want the party’s executive at the state, local government and ward levels to be dissolved in order to pave the way for the proper conduct of congresses at the three levels.
The Abuja group also accused Governor Amaechi of reaping from where he did not sow, having been on self exile in Ghana during the election, and therefore did not contribute in any way to the success of the PDP at the polls.
But in a swift reaction, another body which claimed to be “Concerned PDP Members in Rivers State”, accused the Abuja group of trying to factionalise the party by setting up another secretariat in D/Line, as against the known PDP secretariat along the Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway. The home- based PDP members described their action as "fraudulent”.
The Concerned PDP Members explained that soon after the emergence of Governor Amaechi through the Supreme Court “landmark judgment”, the Abuja politicians fled the state to reside in the FCT where they had acquired choice properties and wondered whether the party should have been allowed to die in their absence. According to them, proper state, local government and ward congresses were held for the election of the respective officers and accused them (Abuja faction) of crying wolf where none existed.
Although the home-based group admitted that the governor was away in Ghana during the elections on the advice of the party’s leader in the current state— apparently referring to Odili— Amaechi’s supporters, they said, were “fully on ground” and were directed by the state chief executive in a statement to go out and participate actively in the election by ensuring the success of PDP candidates in all the polls – presidential, governorship, national and state House of Assembly.
In an apparent move to justify their claim for a factionalised PDP in the state, about 12 members of the Abuja group had met at their Ohaeto, D/Line secretariat, Port Harcourt for several hours penultimate Monday, August 9. But while the meeting was on, The Source learnt that security operatives swooped on them and took them to the state police command where they were detained till the next day, Tuesday, whereupon they were charged to a Port Harcourt Magistrate Court on a three-count charge of conspiracy to commit misdemeanor to wit, unlawful assembly, provoking peace through some offensive publications and the opening of a paralleled PDP secretariat to deceive the people and breach the peace of the state.
The accused persons in charge No. 1360C/2010 were listed as Lolo Ibienye, Prince Ohochukwu, Sokuru Jaja, Dominic Saatah, Agiobu Fubara, Achinike Wonodi, Francis Ebenezer, Nwuke Anucha, Chidi Nwankwo Nancy, Ejor Ngowah Ejor, Grant Orugbani and Lali Green, were said to have committed the offences punishable under sections 517, 70 and 88 A (1) of the Criminal Code Cap 37 Laws of Rivers State of Nigeria, 1999. When the charges were read to the 12 accused persons, they pleaded not guilty, and the Chief Magistrate granted them bail in the sum of N500,000 each, with a surety who must be a civil servant not below level 15 and a Rivers State indigene who also must have landed property in the state.
In a swift move by the Rivers state government to prevent them from meeting the bail condition, The Source learnt that soon after the court sitting, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, Wike summoned all permanent secretaries, directors, vice chancellors and other public office holders to a meeting where he read Governor Amaechi’s directive to them: “None of you should henceforth sign bail bond for anybody.” However, the accused persons were later released after meeting their bail conditions.
The publicity secretary of the Abuja-based politicians who styled themselves as “The Reformers”, Pastor Jerry Needam, condemned the role of the state government in the crisis currently rocking the state chapter of the PDP. But Abe, Secretary to the Rivers State government ruled out political motives behind the state government's efforts to checkmate any breach of peace in the state. Abe accused the former Minister of Transport, Sekibo, Amaechi’s predecessor, Omehia and Opara of being the brains behind the threat to destabilise and factionalise the PDP in the state.
The Source gathered that those behind the crisis are apparently doing so to get the national secretariat of the party to dissolve the  executive committee of the PDP at the state, local government and ward levels, as has been done in some states including Anambra. This move, it was gathered, is preparatory to the party’s planned primaries for the various elective positions which under the current arrangement do not seem to favour them.
The Source learnt that irked by the leasing out of the building at N0. 25 Ohaeto Street, D/Line for use as PDP parallel secretariat, the state government has revoked the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the building. A visit by The Source to the building last Thursday saw a notice placed at the entrance of the storey building: “This building has been sealed off. The C of O has been revoked”. The building, The Source learnt, is owned by one Chief Emmanuel Oriji of Emuoha in Emuoha Local Government Area who died recently and his corpse is still lying at  a private mortuary, Kpaima in Diobu area, Port Harcourt.
Abe also accused the trio of Sekibo, Omehia and Opara of sponsorship of cultism and  cult-related activities in the state, citing  the alleged rustication of Ibieneye from the Rivers State University of Science  and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt for cultism and cult- related activities. The SSG warned of Governor Amaechi’s determination to resist any move by any person, no matter his position in the state or country, to take Rivers state back to those dark days when the people were made to live in fear.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State government on Wednesday, August 18, 2010 amended to six the three-count charge against the 12 PDP leaders who were earlier arraigned on August 10, 2010.
The additional charges include membership to a secret cult, "Big 20," illegal possession of firearms and providing financial support to the cult group.
A top official of the state government said that the amendment was necessary in order to precent a re-occurence of past events in the state which had resulted in the breakdown of law and order.
However, when the ammended charges were read, the lead defence counsel, Golden Tamuno, claimed not to be aware of them, but prosecuting counsel, Cyprian Chukwu countered to say that he had the right to amend the charges since he took over the case from the Police Prosecutor, Inspector Simon Agbor.