Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
The crisis rocking the Ebonyi chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) worsened at the weekend as a reconciliation meeting called by the Caretaker Chairman of the party, Steve Oruruo, allegedly ended in fiasco.
It was learned that about nine committee members of the party and other stakeholders in attendance walked out of the Chairman and the National Vice Chairman South-East of the party, Ali Odefa, who is also from the state.
Shortly after the meeting, Mr Oruruo had claimed that he had reconciled the warring factions of the party in the state but other members of the committee quickly disowned Mr Oruruo’s claims.
Pascal Ukwuani, Secretary of the Caretaker Committee in a statement on Monday described the statement by Barrister Oruruo as misleading and false.
According to him, the said meeting of the Ebonyi PDP held in Enugu on Sunday based upon which Oruruo is claiming to have united the different interests in the party didn’t achieve any result as members in attendance staged a walkout, leaving behind only Oruruo, Ali Odefa and their security guards in the hall.
He further noted that the meeting which took place in Enugu by 2pm ended in a fiasco as has been the usual practice since the inauguration of Oruruo as chairman.
He said: “Of the thirteen total number of the caretaker committee members, nine walked out on the meeting to communicate their displeasure over the manner the chairman was handling the issues bordering on settlement of the crisis ravaging the party, part of which he, the chairman, engineered within the few days he had assumed office as chairman of the party.
“Yes, there was a meeting, but it ended worse than the reason it was convened. Rushing to the press to report the opposite of what transpired is one of the pitfalls of the leadership of the party by Mr Oruruo.”
”It is important at this point to let the national working committee and the entire public know that Steve Oruruo is using propaganda to communicate the affairs of our party in Ebonyi to the public.
“In clear terms, nothing reasonable was discussed as the Chairman and Ali Odefa besieged the venue with over 70 police officers and DSS, denying the secretary and the other nine members the opportunities to contribute to discussions about the repositioning of the party.
“This denial was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, leading to the abrupt dismissal of the meeting. We are surprised (sic) reading from media platforms hours after where the chairman, Oruruo claimed to have settled the scores within the party during the meeting.
“As members of the caretaker committee dedicated to seeing the repositioning of the party, we’re disappointed in the ways and manner a supposed chairman goes on with the business of ensuring that the party is brought back to stability in the state, using propaganda to communicate the business of the party instead of undertaking the true task of reconciling the aggrieved members which is what he was brought in to pursue.”
The Secretary said that Mr Oruruo has successfully exacerbated the woes of the party and is expedient in injuring the party more.
“He is ruling the party in the style of sole administration where he acts as chairman, secretary, publicity secretary and more, not allowing anyone else to participate in the process of communication to find the root cause of the discord that befell the party.
“If the national leadership of the party fails to wade into the menacing Oruruo factor in the Ebonyi PDP, it’ll not be in doubt that our party in Ebonyi is headed towards absolute precipice. He should be reminded that propaganda isn’t germane when trying to pursue reconciliation assuming he’s even attempting to reconcile anybody as he has claimed,” he said.
