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By Anayo Okoli
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
AWKA — THE National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has suspended three members of the party in Anambra State for taking the party to court without exhausting party avenue to redress their grievances. The suspended party members are Princess Chinwe Onyeso, Chief Ogugua Nwosu and Mr. Emma Obele. The three were the plaintiffs sponsored by the state government to secure a court order from an Ogidi High Court in Anambra State to stop the state chapter of the party from appointing a substantive state party chairman as directed by the party’s national headquarters. They had told the court that they were shut out of the aborted appointment of a substantive state party chairman. They headed to the court and stopped the congress where the appointment of the chairman was to hold.
Irked by their action, the National Working Committee of the party at its meeting on August 4, 2004 in Abuja directed the Anambra State chapter of the party to suspend the three party members “for taking our party to court without exhausting all possible avenues of redressing their grievances, if any”, and directed that they should be subjected “to normal party disciplinary procedure as per Article 16 of the PDP Constitution and revert to the National Working Committee through the undersigned”. It was signed by Mr. Ozichukwu Chukwu, the party’s National Vice-Chairman, South East.
In compliance with the directive, the State working committee of the party met in Awka on Monday, August 23, 2004 and issued the following communiqué which ratified the suspension of the three party members. “After the State Working Committee meeting held on 23rd August, 2004 at the State party secretariat, Awka, the following decision was taken.
“In compliance with the directive of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP, the State Working Committee in its regular meeting held on 23rd August, 2004 has suspended the following persons from the party for anti-party activities, Princess Chinwe Onyeso, Chief Ogugua Nwosu and Emma Obele. “In the meantime, the above-named suspended members of the party are summoned to appear before a 7-man disciplinary committee of the party.
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