Crisis in Enugu House of Assembly unsettles PDP

THE current feud between Governor Sullivan Chime and a faction of the State House of Assembly led by Speaker, Eugene Odo may have unsettled the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Authoritative sources close to the leadership of the party in the state told The Guardian that a sharp division has set into the party executive following the decision of its chairman, Ikeje Asogwa, to support the nine-member faction that “impeached” Odo and elected a new Speaker, Chinedu Nwamba.

It was learnt that Asogwa had authored a letter congratulating the new Speaker and adopting him on behalf of the party without recourse to his executive.

He reportedly presented the new Speaker to the governor on Thursday for adoption.

An official of the party told The Guardian: “That is the impunity we are talking about. As we speak, nobody has called any meeting to deliberate on what is happening at the House of Assembly; yet, our chairman has singlehandedly authored a statement congratulating one faction. That is not how to do party politics. I felt that the right thing to do is to call the two groups and know why they are fighting. Whether you like it or not they are all PDP members, and we cannot pretend as if we don’t know they are members of the party.”

He stated that Asogwa’s action was not in the interest of the party and its supporters, stressing that 15 of 24 members of the House “cannot be saying rubbish.”

Already, he said that some of the members of the party executive have protested the action of its chairman.

Odo, alongside 14 other members of the House, had last Monday directed the Clerk of the House, Christopher Chukwurah, to serve impeachment notice on Governor Chime over alleged misappropriation and other
breaches.

The attempt had created division in the House as nine members, allegedly working for the governor, had sat and announced the “impeachment” of Odo, as well as suspension of other principal members of the House.

Contacted on the development, Asogwa told The Guardian that there was no crisis at the State House of Assembly, explaining that what had happened was change in leadership.

“We are not aware of any crisis in the House of Assembly; what we know is that there is a new Speaker for the House of Assembly. We have been duly informed and we have taken note of it. That is why we have adopted him and taken him to the state governor who has done the same,” he said.

Reminded that some interests in the party leadership were not happy with the development, he said: “They have the right to say whatever they can. We feel it is the right to do and we have taken a position at the moment; that is the important thing.”

He said that Nwamba remains the new speaker of the House of Assembly.