Chime Asks INEC To De-register PDP, Insists Party is Dead

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017

FROM IGNATIUS OKPARA, Enugu

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The immediate past governor of Enugu State, Barr. Sullivan Iheanacho Chime On Wednesday called on the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to as matter of urgency de-register the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

He said that the electoral body has ample constitutional backing, should it take such drastic action, insisting that PDP has collapsed as a political party.

Chime, who was elected governor under the PDP platform in 2007, predicted that the extent of dismemberment of the party would become more manifest in the November governorship election in Anambra state, as it may not field any candidate if care is not taken.

The governor equally accused the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu of masterminding protests and campaign of calumny against him since he made public his resignation from the PDP, and intention to join the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Speaking with newsmen at his Enugu residence, Chime, said that lies and blackmail against him were aimed at stopping him from joining the APC, saying that nobody can stop him from officially registering with the party in an event scheduled for next Saturday.

The ex-governor specifically accused Ekweremadu of having told lies against him when he informed the people of Aninri local government of the state during a civic reception of one of their sons that he, Chime, never appointed anybody from the area as either permanent secretary or commissioner throughout his eight years of two terms in Office.

Aside from that, he alleged that meetings and protests especially by the people from his Udi local government origin were being sponsored by Ekweremadu to insult and brand his past administration as total failure, in an effort to diminish his political value .

He said the masterminds thought that he was moving to APC because he was nursing senatorial ambition.

The former governor however, stated that his inevitable movement to APC was not because of personal interest but because a lot of people were looking up to him for where to go, boasting that if the crisis in PDP continues, APC will win Enugu state in 2019.

Chime also debunked the allegation that he never appointed permanent secretaries and commissioners from Ekweremadu’s Aninri council area during his administration.

He listed some names of people his administration appointed permanent secretaries from the Aninri to include, Mr. Wilson Njoku, Emmanuel Ndubuisi and Benson N. Njoku, while Okezie Nwanjoku, Charles Aja and Prof. Chris Okolo were appointed commissioners at different times.

Chime reiterated his earlier comment that PDP was a dead party, and ought to have been de-registered by INEC, saying, “in a nutshell because of the collapse of PDP people started leaving, it’s like you are embarking on a journey of a known destination and your vehicle parks up, decides not to move.

“And maybe in an attempt to fix it what comes to you is that the engine has been stolen, the engine has been removed completely. You will have no choice than to look for another vehicle to continue your journey. That is the best way to describe what is happening .

“People are disembarking from the vehicle of PDP and looking for vehicles to take them to where they want to be.”

“But since I announced my exit from the broken down vehicle of PDP after two years of leaving office I have been branded a total failure because some people thought and still thing that I’m leaving or that I left PDP for the purpose of nursing an ambition to go to the senate. So their best option would be to bring me down.

“There was one particular occasion, let me be a bit specific; in Aninri, I think reception was being held for one Mr. Aja who was then appointed director of works or so at IMT, and the Deputy Senate President so shamelessly accused me of having abandoned the people of Aninri, that throughout my tenure that I never appointed any permanent secretary, and that it was under the present governor that Aninri was given a permanent secretary, and you people published it.

“You people published it without cross checking your facts. And he also claimed that Aninri didn’t have commissioners. I used the word shamelessly because somebody of that status, somebody who had been in state government as chief of staff, SSG, and had access to my administration should have crosschecked his facts, no matter how much he hated me; not to dish out lies, unfounded lies,” he alleged.

He stated that the people of Umuneke clan from his local government area despite the provision of amenities like roads, water and

electricity still came out recently to declare that he failed them woefully, “because somebody gave them money to meet after two years I had left and after they had come to thank me for whatever nice things I did for them or maybe they had come to thank me for having failed them woefully.”

Chime declared that there was no going back from joining the APC, the only viable national party as at today, and that he had already done wide consultations with the ward, local government, state and national leaders of APC who had assured him that he has a space in the party.