PDP accuses suspended Southeast vice chair of causing crisis in Ebonyi

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogudu Okwor Ward, Oshiri in Onicha Local Government Area (LGA) of Ebonyi State has accused the suspended National Vice Chairman, South East of the party, Chief Ali Odefa, of causing a crisis in the state following the arrest, prosecution, and remand of some chieftains of the party in the ward.

In a statement in Abakaliki, the acting chairman of PDP in the ward, Chief Herbert Ovuta, noted that since his suspension from the party, the embattled Vice Chairman had been using thugs and people decked in unverified uniforms to hound the chieftains of the party in the ward.

He noted that, apart from using thugs to harass party stakeholders, most of the leaders were arrested, prosecuted, and remanded in Abakaliki Correctional Center this week.

It will be recalled that Chief Odefa was suspended last week by the executive members of the party in the ward for alleged anti-party activities, which he described as null and void.

Ovuta claimed that many PDP leaders were recently arrested and detained at the Abakaliki Correctional Center under questionable circumstances.

The party accused Odefa of orchestrating these arrests after his suspension for alleged anti-party activities, which he has dismissed as invalid. The statement also condemned Odefa’s alleged collaboration with law enforcement to suppress political opponents.

Odefa, however, denied the allegations, stating that the arrests were due to charges of forgery, and reiterated that his suspension was unconstitutional.

The statement read: “This is to alert the general public and especially members and the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that Mr. Ali Odefa, the National Vice Chairman of the PDP, on Monday, September 7, 2024, at about 8 pm, in the company of yet-to-be-identified thugs and people decked in unverified uniforms in five Hilux vans, invaded the compounds of some of our party members in Oshiri Community and abducted them to an unknown destination.

“The invaders, led by Mr. Ali Odefa, cordoned off the compounds of Messrs. Obinna Chukwu (Acting Youth Leader of PDP, Ogudu Okwor Ward) and Njoku Nwagu (Secretary of PDP, Ogudu Okwor Ward), whereby they were forcefully taken away in the presence of their distraught family members.

“Also, having abducted our two-party officers in Oshiri, the team moved to Abakaliki where they abducted Mr. Sunday Ogbonnaya Idika (Acting Organising Secretary, PDP Ogudu Okwor Ward).

“We were surprised that barely 10 hours after their abduction, they were dumped at the SWAT detention facility at the Police Headquarters, Abakaliki. When information reached us and we rushed to the police headquarters, we were confronted with badly tortured, battered people with swollen faces.

“Within minutes, we were told that police were charging them for cultism, threatening Ali Odefa, forgery, and impersonation in suit CHARGE NO. 605C/2024 at the Magistrate Court of Ebonyi State, Abakaliki.

“It is important to note that Mr. Ali Odefa has a special relationship with CSP B.G. Emenike, the O.C. Legal of the Ebonyi State Police Command, who has become his man-Friday in procuring police action against his political opponents.

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“We, therefore, state categorically that this unlawful action of Mr. Ali Odefa, in collusion with the police, is part of his longstanding oppressive, overbearing, and anti-party antecedents that led to his suspension in the first place.

“For the avoidance of doubt, following the defection of the former Deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Odefa Obasi Odefa, alongside some members of the PDP Ogudu Okwor Ward Executives, the party stakeholders met and nominated their replacements.

“These replacements were ratified by the Onicha LGA Executive of the party and were subsequently endorsed by the State Working Committee.

“It is important to let the public know that the police never investigated these matters, as the charges preferred against our duly appointed Ward Executives are mere trumped-up charges aimed at ensuring that the PDP in Ebonyi State remains in disarray for the convenience of the ruling APC in the state, which Chief Odefa is known to be working for.

“We, therefore, use this medium to alert the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, that some of his officers and men in the Ebonyi State Command may have been compromised against members of our party to divert the course of justice.

“It is to be noted that the suspension of Mr. Ali Odefa is already part of a pending suit at the Federal High Court, Abakaliki, with suit number FHC/AI/CS/182/2024 in the matter OVUTA ONYEDIKACHI & ORS VS CHIEF ALI ODEFA & ORS.

“Ali Odefa’s resort to crude violence, intimidation, and harassment is unwarranted, unlawful, and undemocratic, and must not be condoned.

“If Ali Odefa feels aggrieved over his lawful suspension, he should wait for the Disciplinary Committee resolution on his matter as well as wait for a court of competent jurisdiction to determine the validity or otherwise of his suspension, instead of resorting to violence and self-help.”

Odefa, when contacted, stated that the PDP chieftains were arrested and prosecuted for forgery.

He noted that the ward executives of the party have no powers to suspend him according to the party constitution.