PDP chieftain threatens legal action against party over zoning
Leaders of Enugu West Senatorial District, yesterday, insisted that former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu was part of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) meeting in which the zoning of the state’s governorship position was decided in July 2013.
They said Ekweremadu lied and primed to deceive the people that there was no zoning, stressing that power should return to Enugu East in 2023.
While declaring his intention to run for the 2023 governorship election, Ekweramadu said there was no agreement on rotation in the state, adding that whoever had contrary views, should tell him where and when it was discussed and agreed upon.
But addressing journalists in Enugu, the leaders of Enugu West under the aegis of Ife Emelumma (Things Done Rightly) insisted that Ekweremadu was being economical with the truth.
They stated that during a caucus meeting of the party at the Government House, Enugu on July 7, 2013, stakeholders discussed and agreed on zoning and power rotation among the three senatorial zones of the state.
Leader of the group, Ben Collins Ndu, stated that no fewer than 50 leaders of the state were present at the meeting and unanimously endorsed the resolutions.
Ndu, who said he participated in the meeting, listed others leaders who endorsed the resolutions to include former governor, Sullivan Chime; former Speaker Eugene Odo and former chairman of PDP, Vita Abba.
But curiously, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Edward Ubosi and top officials of the state government, were absent from the meeting.
HOWEVER, the Enugu Rescue Group (ERG) faulted the Ife-Emelumma Enugu West, over its claim of an existing governorship zoning arrangement in the state, accusing it of peddling falsehood.
Ife-Emelumma group had claimed that Enugu stakeholders reached an agreement during Chime’s administration to zone the 2015 governorship seat to Enugu North Senatorial District and the 2023 governorship seat to Enugu East.
But reacting through a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Ejike Ilo-Tasie, the ERG dismissed the claims as fabrications that fly in the face of logic.
MEANHWILE, a former national auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ray Nnaji, has vowed to take legal action against the party if it failed to maintain the existing rotation of the governorship position in the state and allows Ekweremadu or others outside Enugu East to pick the governorship ticket in 2023.
Nnaji, who expressed concern over the party’s silence on the rotation of the gubarnatorial position, insisted that by convention and practice, the slot should be zoned to Enugu East Senatorial District in the next political dispensation.
