From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

Dramatis personae involved in the power tussle are the former Governor of Rivers State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, Governors of Bayelsa, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and Delta, Douye Diri, Ume Eno, Siminalayi Fubara and Sheriff Oborevwori respectively, the zonal chairman, South-South, Chief Dan Orbih from Edo State, Zonal Secretary, Felix Omemu from Bayelsa State and George Turnah, the Zonal Legal Adviser, also from Bayelsa State.

Signs that all was not well with the PDP zone emerged when Chief Felix Omemu from Bayelsa State, as the Zonal Secretary, raised the alarm over the notice of a Zonal Executive Meeting (ZEM) issued by Orbih to be held in Benin, Edo State on Saturday, February 15th.

Omemu in a statement issued in Yenagoa argued that Orbih cannot unilaterally call for a Zonal Executive Meeting without recourse to the Zonal Working Committee (ZWC).  According to him, the Zonal Executive Meeting was supposed to be preceded by the Zonal Working Committee meeting. 

Hear him: “In line with Section 26 (2c) of our party’s Constitution as amended in 2017, there was no such a time that the Zonal Working Committee meeting being a precursor to the Zonal Executive Committee agreed on any reports to be discussed at the Saturday’s (February 15) scheduled meeting.

‘’As the Zonal Secretary of the party, I am therefore, not aware of such a meeting that purportedly resolved that ZWC could go ahead to convene the highest meeting of the party leaders in the zone and so, I wish to distance myself from such an illegal ZEC meeting and gathering being called by Chief Dan Orbih,’’ he said.

Omemu further discredited the proposed meeting by appealing to political leaders in the South-South zone to stay away from the meeting as the intention was at variance with the interest of the PDP.

‘’I also wish to call on my colleagues in the zone to boycott Saturday’s meeting, whose agenda remains suspicious and may not likely serve the general interest of the party as it is clear that the majority of the leaders of the party in the zone were not duly consulted before calling for the meeting.

‘’By this statement, I am placing on alert the key PDP leaders in the South-South zone including our state governors, former governors on the platform of the PDP, members of the National Assembly from the zone, Principal Officers of the State Houses of Assembly from the zone, members of the National Working Committee from the zone and also State Chairmen of our party from the zone.

“I urge the leaders of the party in the zone to call Chief Orbih to order, (so as) to avoid any untoward consequences of allowing an illegal meeting to be held in the zone’’ Omemu added.

Investigations revealed that in tune with Omemu’s submissions, while several political leaders including all the elected governors of PDP from the zone stayed away from the meeting, other zonal officers and party members sympathetic to Wike attended.

To confer legitimacy on the ZEC meeting he called, Orbih had convened a ZWC meeting where the issue of the zonal congress and that of Omemu’s statement were tabled. It was an opportunity for Omemu’s traducers to take him to the political Golgotha. They took turns to lampoon him for what they called an attempt ‘’to sow the seed of discord in the zone’’. 

The factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Chike Amaewhule moved a motion for the suspension of Omemu for gross misconduct, and the motion was seconded by Godwin Offiono, a member of Cross River State House of Assembly.

Immediately following the suspension of Omemu, a fellow Bayelsan from Ogbia Local Government Area, George Turnah, the Zonal Legal Adviser was appointed to replace him to function as the Zonal Secretary in an acting capacity, a move that has now dragged the Bayelsa chapter of the party into the crisis.

Irked by Turnah’s acceptance of the position of acting Zonal Secretary, the state Working Committee of the party in an emergency meeting presided over by the Chairman, Solomon Agwana, less than 24 hours after Turnah’s appointment voted unanimously to suspend him from party activities in the state.

According to the State Working Committee (SWC), its decision to suspend Turnah was premised on the PDP Constitution, as provided in Section 57(3), 58 (1) (h), and 59 (4).

It added that it would take further steps to refer the matter to the appropriate Disciplinary Committee to handle within the period of his suspension.

However, the executive of Ogbia Ward 9, where Turnah hails from, led by its Chairman, Progress Ederi, has since stepped in. The Ward did not only pass a vote of confidence in Turnah but also vehemently rejected his suspension by the SWC.

‘’By the Constitution of the People’s Democratic Party, only the Ward Executive Committee can suspend the membership of Hon. George Turnah, and not the State Working Committee.

‘’ We, therefore, reject and condemn the purported suspension of our leader, Hon. George Turnah by the Bayelsa State Working Committee of the party as they do not possess any such powers under the Constitution of the party to suspend an officer, higher in rank than all of them in the State Working Committee,’’ the ward leadership declared.

At the zonal leadership level where the crisis emanated from, factions had also emerged amidst Turnah and Omemu laying claims to the position of the Zonal Secretary. While a faction upturned the suspension of Turnah by the SWC, another faction reaffirmed Omemu as the Secretary.

The confusion forced other zonal leaders in the zone led by the party chairmen in the six states to intervene to provide some stability.   The zonal leaders in a statement passed a vote of confidence in the four governors elected on the platform of the party in the state.   They also reaffirmed Omemu as the Zonal Secretary and cautioned against what they described as ‘’negative supremacy tussle and perfidy by some members of the party.’’

The zonal leaders also picked holes in the meeting convened by Orbih, stressing that it was “illegal and unconstitutional, as they could not secure the required two-thirds majority as provided in section 26(3)’’. Accordingly, the zonal leaders stated that the implication was that all decisions taken at the meeting remained null and void and of no effect.

They equally frowned at those they called agents of destabilisation, who are desperate to destroy the party from within, warning that the proposed zonal congress scheduled for Calabar, Cross Rivers was illegal and not with the consent of the governors and the zonal leaders.

“This self-seeking agenda is nothing but to promote the inglorious political advantage of their paymasters and to amplify seif-aggrandisement, which must be properly scrutinised, and to a greater extent, this overzealous tendency has further exposed their ill-will and the avowed decision to stay within the party to destabilise and destroy the very party that has given them a high ranking and juicy positions across the three tiers of government for over two decades. We have elected and are determined to take critical decisions and strategic steps to strengthen our great party in order to maintain our winning streak at all levels,’’ they added.

However, despite the announcement by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party that the South-South zonal congress had been put on hold, Orbih went ahead to organise the congress on Saturday, February 22. The biggest political fish in attendance was Wike who witnessed Orbih and Turnah being elected as Zonal Chairman and Secretary respectively, while other officers spread across the six states were also elected.

The biggest news of the day was an open challenge to the governors and the NWC by Wike who declared that no other zonal congress would take place.

‘’The South-South Zone is the strongest zone of the PDP in Nigeria. It has always been and will always be. There is no part of the constitution that says Congress should be postponed because of a wedding or travelling.w

“There has never been a Congress where every delegate was present. The constitution did not say the National Working Committee should conduct a Congress but the zone. I want to assure you that this is the final Zonal Congress of the South-South Zone, after the election today, no other zonal Congress will hold.

“This is our job, our terrain, and we are not new to this. Nobody can intimidate me and I don’t need to be a governor,’’ Wike had declared.

Since Wike’s bombshell, the NWC of the party had responded through a letter dated February 25th, and signed by its acting chairman, Amb Umar Iliya Damagum, and National Secretary, Rt Hon S.K.E Udeh-Okoye to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), officially notifying the Commission of the postponement of its South-South zonal congress.

The implication of the NWC’s letter which has the backing of the PDP Governors is that the Zonal Congress attended by Wike was not recognised by the national leadership of the party.  From all indications, the die, appears cast for the commencement of a long-drawn battle for the control of the party in the South-South zone, ahead of the 2027 elections.