Yes, I am a member of the PDP-USA Chapter.
As a matter of fact, I am the first democratically elected Chairman of PDP-USA.
I won with a landslide in an election held on April the 27th, 2002 at Boston
Mass. PDP-USA is composed of thirteen branches; many of the PDP-USA
members you saw at my wedding are a living testimony of the overwhelming support
I enjoyed among the members of the party. Thanks to God.
My intention was to make the PDP-USA Chapter a model, an enviable Chapter in
United States. Unfortunately, the all-powerful Vincent Ogbulafor,
national Secretary of PDP Nigeria, untimely terminated my term of office.
My objective was to establish the supremacy of the chapter as other Chapters in
Nigeria. I wanted to glue the members together as an entity, moving
in one direction, and function as the think tank powerhouse for Nigeria.
You stated that you are the first elected
chairman of PDP-USA Chapter. Can you give us an insight into the PDP you led
My leadership was marked by respect for
the branches and the chairmen. Integrity, transparency and
dedication to duty were my guiding principles. It was the chapter
first before anything else. My leadership, as a pioneer chairman of
the chapter, came when the chapter had no funds, and Abuja repeatedly, insisted
that they couldn’t fund us. We therefore, had to run the chapter out
of our individual pocket. Thanks to the benevolent branch chairmen.
They contributed everything they have and
within the space of two years, we did the following:
Visited the Secretariat in Abuja six times, each visit costs us nothing less
than ten thousand dollars each.
We were the dominant chapter in the
foreign chapters’ conference held in December 2002. We were dominant
in the sense that the USA chapter was the only chapter that paid fully their
financial dues for that conference. At the end of the conference, we
ran into financial difficulties with the NICON Hilton Hotel. We owed
money to the NICON Hotel. It was USA chapter, under my leadership
that bailed them out.
We attended and contributed to the party’s
convention in Abuja;
In the Nigeria’s national election 2003, PDP-USA chapter played a prominent
role in developing (the PDP’S strategies for success) /a PDP-USA perspective.
We worked our strategy to success which included —Mass mailing—Weekly Newspaper
Advertisement sending members to Nigeria, to take part in the actual
campaign—contributed in sponsoring so many Governors to success—contributed and
encouraging many Nigerians in USA to run for offices in Nigeria.
We attended the Inaugural ceremony of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Printed the first Almanac of Nigerians in USA— (who is who in USA)
Developed a very harmonious relationship among the chapter membership.
That smooth cordial relationship was what you saw in New Orleans during my
wedding, which you referred to.
We were just embarking on so many ventures like chapter Magazine and alleviating
poverty in Nigeria when the life of my administration suddenly terminated.
However life still goes on among the individual members of the party, a dynasty
has already been created.
Could you please recall the genesis of the
crisis in the PDP-USA chapter?
The genesis of the problem of PDP-USA is
deep rooted. It is political and tribal in nature. I have to
be candid, as I have no intention to distort facts. My answer will
show you that there was a well-orchestrated and sustained plan by some members,
all acting in concert with Chief Iyke Nwaneri, coordinator of foreign chapters,
to topple my chairmanship and reinstall Mr. Fabian Okeke who I defeated in
Boston, April 2002.
My landslide victory over Mr. Fabian Okeke
was an unpleasant surprise to the supporters of Mr. Okeke as it upset the
elaborate plan that they had in place to ensure the continuation of Okeke’s
tenure as chairman. My predecessor Mr. Okeke set up a congress
committee, charged with the responsibility to conduct the election and he
personally handpicked his lackey as the chairman. His congress
committee chairman then went ahead to personally supervise the execution of the
plan mentioned above. The plan had many aspects. Time and space will
not allow me to delve into the minutiae of all the parts but some of the
cardinal parts are worth mentioning.
It was overwhelmingly clear, that the
congress chairman responsible for conducting the election, had well orchestrated
plan to steer the election in favor of the incumbent chairman Mr. Okeke.
He planted his agents in every part of the election to make sure that his plans
were carried out.
Chief Iyke Nwaneri, the foreign chapter
coordinator was equally involved in this plot to see that Mr. Okeke was elected
chairman. In the Nigerian way, he tried to intimidate members to
indicate that Abuja wants Mr. Okeke and not Dr. Okpalobi. He even tried to
induce some people to change their opinions in favor of Mr. Okeke.
The election came and was conducted openly
and transparently before the eyes of everyone although it was not supposed to be
so. But because many members who have learned the process of democracy in
America objected to every plan made to rig the election, the election was
conducted and Dr. I.C.A. Okpalobi won. The scoreboard was as follows:
Out of 13 total branches, Dr. Okpalobi won 8, Mr. Fabian Okeke won 3, and Chief
Nwade won 2.
So the genesis of our problem is that Dr. Okpalobi won an election he was not
supposed to win. My opponents then ganged up and vowed to bring my
administration down. This was the genesis of the problems of PDP-USA
chapter.
Apart from election, can it be attributable to any
other remote reason(s)
Yes indeed, Abuja failed to respect the
authority of the chapter majority. Chief Vincent Ogbulafor(PDP’s national
secretary) found it difficult to accept the authority of the chapter. It
should be prudent to believe that where the majority of the chapter goes should
be where the power lies. Until Abuja realises that in a democratic country
like USA, to establish a political party in this country, the rule of democracy
must prevail anything else will result in failure.
Chief Ogbulafor decided to dissolve an
elected executive. He further violated the principles of democracy by not
allowing these executives to test their popularity at the poll. Of course
he operated the jungle law where the might is right. Even a USA court of
law in New Jersey ruled that it is unconstitutional to deny members the right to
vote and to be voted for. This is why that election, after being
challenged in US court and won, is being challenged in Nigeria court of law.
For the same reason, the members of the newly elected executives are in
shambles, again democracy is not respected. Simply, follow the opinion of
majority and you will never go wrong, anything else will be anarchy.
