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Crisis in the U.S. chapter
IHEANACHO NWOSU
ACTIVITIES of
the United States of America (USA) chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) since 1999, had always slip off public eyes. But that era seems to
have gone.
More than any other branch both in
diaspora and within the shores of the nation, at least in the past few days,
happenings in the US PDP are now commanding attention and eliciting ripples. And
the ripples are not such that any one would pray to be part of.
For many, the on-going crisis rocking the
fold of PDP in U.S. is not just flabbergasting but is enough to cause one to
lose sleep. The crisis is over leadership tussle.
For two weeks running, some national
dailies have been awash with claims and counter claims by two factions of the
chapter claiming the authentic leadership of the party.
The bad blood within the U.S. PDP chapter
boiled over when a group, after a meeting in New Jersey issued a communique,
suspending the Chapter Executive Committee led by Mr. Tex Wariboko.
In the interim, the group appointed Mrs.
Felicia Hadjismaili as the Chapter Chairman and Chief Eddie Nwosu and Sir Ike
Gigineme as Acting Secretary and Publicity Secretary respectively.
They accused the suspended executive which
included Dr. Stanley Onye, Chapter Secretary, of defrauding the Chapter.
Specifically the group alleged that Wariboko "received and spent unauthorised
and unapproved party funds for a sandwich that his wife prepared for members
when the party visited him in his Houston residence during the meeting of the
Chapter Working Committee he hosted.
Also they claimed: "That he allegedly
received unapproved and unauthorised party funds as repayment for the security
arrangement he provided, and in short, allegedly defrauded the party.
"That before the Houston meeting of
February 2004, so many branches had hosted similar meetings including the New
Jersey, the Boston and the Minnesota branches that had hosted two congress in
2001 and 2003 without presenting a bill to the party.
"That party funds have been diverted,
allegedly for Mr. Tex Wariboko’s personal expenditures..."
They therefore set up an ad-hoc
investigatory committee led by Dr. Bright Aregs to determine the truth or
otherwise of the allegations preferred against the Chapter Chairman and his
executive committee.
Quite predictably Wariboko and his group
did not take the allegation and their purported suspension with kid glove.
Swiftly they reacted and dismissed both their suspension and all the
accusations.
According to a letter signed by the
Chapter’s acting Publicity Secretary in Atlanta, Mr. Chukwudi Ede, the
allegations of the other group are not only spurious but the totality of their
claims misleading.
He told Daily Champion "I want to
make it clear that at no time did the executives of the party impeach our
honourable chair, Attorney Tex Wariboko and our honourable general secretary,
Dr. Stanley Onye. Therefore any subsequent events, meeting panels etc, please
regard as farce.
"You are receiving information from a
group of individuals who for reasons best known to them have decided not to be
part of PDP USA as constituted, forming a splinter group that is neither
recognised nor sanctioned by the party secretariat in Abuja."
As expected the two camps are not letting
up their positions, neither are they ready to leave anything to chance. Beyond
America, the war is now shifted to Abuja, the nation’s capital and the
headquarters of the party.
The argument now is the faction that is
enjoying the endorsement and sympathy of the Chief Audu Ogbeh-led national
leadership of the party.
As far as the Wariboko camp is concerned,
the other factions is only engaging in futile effort.
It said "the Chapter Executive Committee
CEC commends the party National Working Committee and the National Secretary,
Prince Vincent Ogbulafor for their confidence in the chapter’s executive."
It continued "the PDP secretariat in a
June 15, 2004 correspondence to the Chapter Chairman, Attorney Tex Wariboko
reiterated its absolute confidence in the Tex Wariboko administration and
approved all the actions that have been taken thus far.
"These actions include: the reorganisation
plans, the mandatory branch elections (where elections have not been held), and
the refusal of any appointed branch executive members, disciplinary actions
approved by the CWC, various investigations panels set up by the chairman and
CWC approved policies and actions.
"The PDP National Secretariat also
stipulated that the Chapter executive under the leadership of Tex Wariboko is
the only recognised formation in PDP USA as stipulated by in the constitution
and the international guidelines, and as such, any other formation is
unconstitutional."
However, the other group does not only
insist that the PDP National Secretary, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor has given his
approval to the suspension of Wariboko but has accepted Mrs. Felicia Hadjesmaili
as the new CEC Chairman.
They further insist that only the report
of the ad hoc committee mandated to investigate the allegation of financial
indiscretion preferred on the Wariboko Committee will determine whether the
suspension on the chairman would be shelved or upheld.
Analysts are already churning our permutations on the
whole crisis, but what seems definite is that unless the national leadership of
the party intervenes in the crisis, the bad blood in the USA PDP will definitely
take a more frightening dimension. When that happens, it will, sure, aggravate
the seeming foggy situation in the PDP fold.
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