Acting Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Abia State, Chief Alfredo Awa, told Ijendu Iheaka that Governor Orji Kalu should adhere to the rule of law for peace to reign in the party. Excerpts:
There was a news item on Abia radio that you broke into the PDP state secretariat recently and carted away the party�s money.
I went to my office as the Deputy Chairman, and my office is very empty. There is nothing in the office. I usually hold meetings on the ground floor. Unless they are saying they put security materials in the warehouse on the ground floor which is wide open for use.
But if they said money was carted away from the office well, who told you that must be a very big thief because there is no how you can put party money in the office. You put it in the bank, unless they are doing money laundering inside the secretariat which I will not be a party to. Party money are deposited into the party account. The party has an account. And the meeting was done in broad day light. The police were around. Nothing was carted out. We did not go there to cart out anything, we went there to do meeting and that�s it.
I heard there was a little problem at the beginning. What was it.
There was no problem. It is the Government House staff led by thugs that brought motorcycles to interrupt the meeting and the police intervened and they ran away.
Why are you yet to take the place of the chairman?
Well, I am the acting chairman. That is subject to the National Working Committee ratification but by the constitution I have the right to call a meeting. If the governor is going ahead to tell his press secretary to call a meeting, it is wrong. He doesn�t want to follow the rule of law. Press Secretary to the Governor is not a party member. He is not a member of the National Working Committee. He is not a member of the party caucus. He is not a member of the PDP in Abia. It is not his duty to call a meeting of the PDP. It is my duty. So, on the rule of law, I have been advising him. He is my friend. I made him governor, but he doesn�t want to follow advice by the rule of law, and the former Administrative Secretary is not a secretary. The Acting Secretary, Nwalozie Dede, has taken his position. All this was agreed in the meeting. I am still advising the governor. He is a young man. He should be following the rule of law, because if you don�t follow the rule of law you can�t lead.
In the morning of the meeting, we called Onuoha to bring the key to the warehouse. He said no, the warehouse is open; we should do our meeting there in the warehouse. I agreed with him because we don�t need the first and second floor for a meeting. The crowd was too much, we only had to use the warehouse to do the meeting and we did the meeting successfully. Anybody that said police beat him up was not present in that meeting in the premises. Maybe outside the premises, because inside the premises there was no rancour, there was no fight. Everything went peacefully. The President of the Senate was there. The Commissioner of Police even came there in person. His assistant was also there. Many dignitaries were there and the Secretary to the party, Vincent Ogbulafor, was also there.
So, on the call that your group should be arrested and prosecuted what do you have to say?
Let them bring their evidence for prosecution. You can�t prosecute somebody who has the right to call a meeting. Is he prosecuting me that I don�t have the right to call meeting? Even the governor, I wrote him a letter, he acknowledged it. He did not reply me and say he did not want any meeting to go on. So, I still have a copy of that letter he stamped and faxed it back to Abuja, giving it to all the authorities. So, he is the one who is trying to bring problem in the state. In the absence of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar becomes the President. That is the constitution. Mine cannot be different. And I follow the rule of law. That�s why I say I am acting chairman. I did not say I am chairman until it is ratified by the national working body of the PDP. Not in Abia. It will be ratified in Abuja. They give us directives. And Abuja knows I am holding a meeting. They asked me to go on and hold the meeting, they even give me a cheque of N250,000 to hold this meeting. So I don�t know why my governor don�t want to follow the rule of law.
You are saying it is wrong for him to organise a meeting.
Of course, I am the one to do it. It�s like sending somebody to represents the Inspector General of Police. It�s wrong. If the I-G is not there, the DIG is there. Can you understand what I am saying? So he called me to the Government House to dialogue with me. Instead of them to dialogue with me they waylaid and hijacked me.
What was their intention?
Their intention was to make sure the meeting doesn�t hold.
