All the South-East governors elected under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday in Abuja boycotted the inauguration of the party’s National Integration Committee, by the National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, to reconcile aggrieved party members nationwide.
The South-East PDP governors that were absent at the inauguration which was held at the PDP’s National Headquarters in Abuja, were Martins Elechi (Ebonyi), Theodore Orji (Abia) and Sullivan Chime (Enugu) and other party chieftains from the geo-political zone, including the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, who was named as the chairman of the North-East Zonal Integration Committee of the party.
Speaking with journalists at the PDP secretariat in Abuja where the inauguration took place, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Prince Chibudom Nwuche, alleged the marginalisation of the South-East in the scheme of things.
Nwuche said the committee was inaugurated to reconcile aggrieved PDP members, but expressed concern that some states were being marginalised.
Our correspondent, however, learnt that the governors and other PDP members were aggrieved because they were not listed when the party advertised the committee members.
Though, a day after the list was published, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, issued a statement in which he appealed to the governors, saying the action was not meant to ridicule them.
However, Mu’azu called on the party faithful to commit themselves to the mission of rebranding the party ahead of 2015 general elections, noting that only concerted efforts to turn around the fortunes of the ruling party would make it a “toast of Nigerian people on a sustainable basis.”
He further submitted that the ruling party must become a reform-minded institution to stimulate the transformation of the country. “We should, therefore, go beyond being a reformed party to a reform-minded institution that is pro-actively committed to the accelerated transformation of our dear country.
“You have been assembled as great party leaders with great party spirit; men and women of high strength of character who, by your wealth of experience, are well-equipped and disposed to create value, add value and protect values within the PDP family”.
In his remarks, chairman Board of Trustees of the party, who is the Chairman, North West zone of the committee, Chief Tony Anenih appealed to members to see their assignment as a call to service.
