A former State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Imo State Chapter, Hon. Chief Ugochukwu Nnawuihe has dragged the purported Imo Caretaker of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to court seeking the sacking of the Seventeen-member Caretaker Committee illegally imposed on the State. A former Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Owerri zone.
Hon. Nnawuihe also served as a former Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture during Governor Achike Udenwa’s tenure. He was also a former member of the Imo State House of Assembly during late Governor Sam Mbakwe’s tenure.
In Suit No:HOU/59/2024 filed at the Imo State High Court, Mgbidi Division, Hon. Nnawuihe sought a declaration of the Honourable Court that the imposition of a seventeen member caretaker committee to run the affairs of the PDP in Imo State is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as amended in 2017.
He stated that there was no emergency to warrant the appointment of a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the Party in Imo State. He averred that the proper thing to do under the PDP Constitution was to convene a meeting of the State Executive Committee of the Party to fill any vacant positions in the State Working Committee as stipulated in Section 47(6) of the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) as amended in 2017. He maintained that the total dissolution of the entire State Working Committee without a meeting of the State Executive Committee of the Party was against the said PDP Constitution. He stated that the last State Executive Committee meeting of the Party of which he is a member was held in December 2023 noting that no other meeting had been convened since then.
The Defendants in the suit are the Caretaker Committee Chairman, Engr. Chidi Dike and all members of the Caretaker Committee purportedly inaugurated to run the affairs of the Party.
Hon. Nnawuihe stated that he was one of the founding members of the PDP in Imo State observing that all the Governors that had been elected in Imo State since 1999, were all former members of PDP. “A party that produced former Governors,Senators, National and State House of Assembly members, Speakers of the State Assembly and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, has now been turned into a business centre”.
On why he instituted the court action, Hon. Nnawuihe stated that they cannot sit and watch those he described as political jobbers and greedy politicians to take over Imo PDP. “How can one or two people stay in Abuja and impose an unconstitutional Caretaker Committee on the party”, he querried.
He advised the members of the PDP in Imo State not to waste their resources to participate in any congresses or primaries for the coming local government election under this illegal state caretaker committee.
“The way things are now, it will be very difficult, if not impossible for PDP to win even one councilor seat in the state. It is a shame that the PDP in Imo State has been turned into a business center”.