Why Ebonyi PDP is enmeshed in crisis, Okorie reveals
From Chinedu Nwafor, Abakaliki
The embattled chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi State, Mr Tochukwu Okorie, has attributed the problems of the party to multiple litigations.
In a statement signed by him, and made available to Journalists on Friday, Mr Okorie, said the claims by the Party’s legal Adviser, Mr Mudi Erhenede and the acting Chairman of the party, Barrister Ifeanyi Nworie, that he was behind the party’s problem was incorrect.
Recall that Mr Okorie was suspended by the State Chapter of the PDP about two months ago, citing gross misconduct.
Mr Okorie in the statement also claimed that the PDP in Ebonyi State had no valid governorship candidate for the March 18, governorship and State House of Assembly elections in the State.
Okorie said: “The social and some mainstream media have been circulating the ridiculous claims made by the duo of Barr. Mudiaga Erhenede and Ifeanyi Nworie to the effect that their failing enterprise of installing Mr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii as governor owes to the multiple court cases instituted by me.
“While I sympathize with the gentleman who has been a victim of the vicious machination of a gang of political jobbers, I find it rather gratifying that they sincerely believed that they could, at least, breathe some life into their dead undertaking using my name. It is my suspicion that they have run out of excuses after making all sorts of promises to Mr. Odii as a means of sustaining their wicked schemery of obtaining from him continuously. If that works for them, that’s fine. It is not my place to tell their victim to wake up and smell the coffee.
“For the benefit of the few members of the voting public who may be or are being fooled by the fawning craftiness of these deceivers, let me take these two down memory lane. Apparently, they are challenged by selective amnesia and acute cognitive dissonance. While I am not in court with their victim, my claims have always been against an imposter and usurper who they were using as a tool to destabilize the party and weaken the political base of the Leader of the party so as to pave the way for a certain presidential candidate.
“It is on record however that it was Mr. Ifeanyi Odii who, after claiming victory in a cancelled primary election, ran to court the following morning to challenge his own victory. That was the beginning of all pre-election matters before the courts to which I was never and I am still not a party. But of course, Erhenede and Nworie find no better excuse than dropping my name. How convenient.
“That said, it should interest Erhenede and Nworie to know that, I remain the only elected Chairman of Ebonyi State PDP and all their effort at removing me has already splashed mud in their own faces. The matter of the misguided suspension is a subject of pending litigation and is therefore subjudice. I will waste no further energy on those.
“It is a shame that while these political alabaru are smiling to the bank, their victim is being fooled into believing that he is a candidate in the governorship election of March 18, 2023. The voting public deserves to know that the person whom they used to convene a kangaroo State Congress that purportedly hosted the governorship primary which produced Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii was and remains an imposter totally unknown to the party.
“This is the subject of the matter now pending before the Supreme Court after the Honourable Justice Nyako held that an imposter could not have convened a valid State Congress. And since you cannot build something on nothing and expect it to stand, the primary that purportedly held at that Congress and which produced Odii is invalid and of no effect whatsoever. Whether now or later, that question must be answered.
“Then the scam and the scammers will be exposed for whom they truly are. For the avoidance of doubt, it bears reiterating that the Peoples Democratic Party has NO valid gubernatorial candidate in Ebonyi State. Anyone genuinely hoping to hop on that sunk ship will only blame himself or herself very soon.”
Recall that acting Chairman of PDP in the State, Barrister Ifeanyi Nworie and the party’s legal Adviser, Barrister Erhenede had last week held a press conference wherein they raised the alarm over what they described as ceaseless but unlawful attempts by the suspended Chairman of the Party in the State, Mr Okoroafor Tochukwu Okorie and his “cohorts” to allegedly mislead unsuspecting Judges of the Federal High Court of Nigeria in order to truncate the chances of the party in the March 18, 2023 Governorship and State House of Assembly elections in Ebonyi State.
According to them Mr. Okoroafor Tochukwu Okorie and his cohorts have continued to file frivolous suits and shop for forums in various Courts, especially Federal High Court sitting at Abuja to obtain a kangaroo judgment against Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, and derail the electoral process.
