ABUJA—THE National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was, yesterday, sharply divided over the face-off between President Olusegun Obasanjo and the national chairman of the party, Chief Audu Ogbeh. But some PDP senators are viewing the feud as a family affair which "outsiders" should not dabble into.
An NWC meeting held yesterday at Chief Ogbeh’s Abuja office was the shortest since he assumed the leadership of the party. It commenced at about 1pm and ended about an hour later, with Chief Ogbeh leaving for an unknown location. He was scheduled to attend a meeting of the party’s national caucus last night.
The party’s national caucus meetings are attended by the President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chairman of the PDP, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Secretary of the PDP.
There were feelers yesterday that the caucus meeting had been put off on the advice of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, and another member of the Board of Trustees, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, to give room for adequate pacification of the president, who was said to have been "sorely rankled" by Chief Ogbeh’s action.
The party chairman had in a December 6, 2004 letter to Obasanjo, which was copied to the Vice President, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Speaker of the House of Representatives, accused the President of complicity in the Anambra crisis and warned that the President should act now as the country was drifting in the direction of collapse like it happened in the Second Republic.
Obasanjo fired back and accused Ogbeh of shirking his responsibility in resolving the Anambra crisis. The verbal war had jolted the party, prompting yesterday’s emergency NWC meeting, which as learnt, had worsened the situation as members were said to be divided behind Ogbeh and Obasanjo.
It was learnt that after dealing with the Edo State crisis over the relocation of the state secretariat and taking a position that the purported suspension of Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Anenih; a member of the Board, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia; and two others was illegal, the meeting briefly addressed the issue of the declassified correspondence between Ogbeh and Obasanjo.
Vanguard gathered that Chief Ogbeh introduced the matter and explained to the meeting why he had to write the letter and maintained that having written it in good faith, he was standing by its contents.
It was learnt that the 19-member NWC had been caught in between support for its National Chairman and support for the President. There were feelers that some of the members expressed displeasure at the National Chairman for writing the letter without consultation and discussion on it by members of the committee.
It could not be confirmed yesterday the exact number of NWC members backing Ogbeh, but it was clear that a good number, namely the party’s National Secretary, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor; National Publicity Secretary, Mr Venatius Ikem; National Vice Chairman (South-West), Chief Olabode George; National Vice Chairman (South-East), Nze Fidelis Ozichukwu Chukwu; National Vice Chairman (South-South), Chief Godspower Ake; National Woman Leader, Mrs Josephine Anenih; Deputy National Chairman (South), Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun; and National Vice Chairman (North-Central), Alhaji Abubakar Mogaji, were behind the president.
Meanwhile, the meeting of the NWC is expected to continue today and tomorrow, according to feelers from the party’s national secretariat.
Why Ogbeh didn’t copy Wabara
Meanwhile, it was confirmed yesterday that Chief Ogbeh deliberately refused to copy his letter to the Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, because of a November 11, 2004 letter by Wabara in which he accused him (Ogbeh) of being a master of "inconsistencies and double speak."
Ogbeh was believed to have been angered by Wabara’s reference to an attempt to "roll back this apparent ring of evil that seems to have enveloped our great party" on account of Ogbeh’s alleged inconsistencies on decisions made in respect of the Abia PDP crisis.
In the three-page letter NASS/S/PS/05/24/04 and entitled: "Purported recall of Chief Uzodinma Okpara, former Chairman, PDP, Abia State," Wabara had kicked against the decision of Ogbeh to bring back Chief Okpara who was removed from office for anti-party activities.
The Senate President had likened the manner in which Ogbeh allegedly single-handedly "exhumed a long interred case" to an attempt by Ogbeh at replaying the "Lazarus Miracle," which he said came unfortunately on "a day that a notable Abia son, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, was marking his 60th birthday."
Senators differ on PDP crisis
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Senators said yesterday that the face-off between President Obasanjo and Chief Ogbeh was a family affair.
Their appeal for restraint was, however, rebuffed by Senators Abiola Ajimobi (AD, Oyo South) and Timothy Adudu (ANPP, Plateau North) who in separate interviews said the President’s reported confirmation that the PDP did not win the gubernatorial election in Anambra State posed a moral dilemma to the country.
PDP Senate leader, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida, rebuffing insinuations of crisis on his way to an emergency party meeting told Vanguard yesterday that the party was not in a crisis. "No crisis, no crisis at all in our party. It is just a family affair, there is no crisis that should disturb anyone," the Senate leader said.
Senator Effiong Bob, (PDP, Akwa Ibom) echoed the Senate leader’s observation as he parried questions on the development, saying what was happening was a family affair.
Senator Chris Adighije (PDP, Abia Central), on his part called for restraint from both men even as he urged all stakeholders of the country’s democracy to keep their guards against unpalatable fallouts from the crisis. He particularly appealed to the press and commentators not to over blow the disagreement between the two party figures in the PDP.
Responding, Senator Ajimobi said: "You can see it from the letter the President wrote and the letter Chief Ogbeh wrote, they stole the election and it has been confirmed on the pages of newspapers written by Mr. President and that is only one place, we don’t know what they have done in other places, but you can have an idea that they stole the elections."
