The crisis rocking the South-south zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has deepened, following the party’s insistence that Chief Felix Omemu remains the authentic and undisputed secretary in the zone.
The development came a few days after a meeting in Benin, the Edo State capital, summoned by the national vice-chairman, south-south of the party Chief Dan Orbih, where Omemu was suspended and the party’s Legal Adviser, George Turner was appointed to replace him in an acting capacity.
However, the south-south zonal publicity secretary, Bishop Etim Effiong Ante, described the suspension of the zonal scribe as feeble, unjustifiable, and a powerless pronouncement that would not see the light of the day.
Speaking on Monday, Bishop Ante said the meeting was a mere gathering, as it was unconstitutionally summoned for the selfish interests of few persons within the fold.
Ante said that one of the factors that affected the party before and during last year’s Edo governorship election was a leadership tussle between the national vice-chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, and the immediate past Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
He added that Chief Orbih must be checked and accused of resurfacing with another agenda to disintegrate the zonal executive of the PDP.
He stressed any zonal meeting must have governors, many stakeholders, and elected officials in attendance, saying the Benin meeting lacked the presence of any governor or party stakeholders.
Ante insisted that the zonal structure of the party was intact, adding that soon, the Southsouth zone of the party would make their position known.
He urged the public as well as the party faithful not to lose sleep over the meeting, which he said was orchestrated by few dissenting voices.
He said: “As the mouthpiece of the zone, I can tell you that Chief Felix Omemu is not only the Secretary, but he is the authentic and reigning Secretary of the PDP. We will soon come out with a position, but the unsuspecting public should not be misled.”
“We are not supposed to join issues with these fragments, but for now I can tell you that our structure is still intact.”
“And again the purported meeting did not secure the two-thirds because the constitution of the PDP approved that it has to be a two-third majority that can hold a meeting, and anything other than that is a misnomer, hence the so-called suspension is null and void.”
On issues affecting the PDP in general, Ante said that the party was waxing stronger and working assiduously to resolve all lingering problems.
