A fresh crisis is brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as federal lawmakers from the Southeast have threatened to boycott the party’s forthcoming national convention in Ibadan over alleged moves to rezone the position of National Woman Leader from the Southeast to the South South.
The lawmakers, led by the member representing Ideato North/South Federal Constituency of Imo State, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, accused Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, of masterminding the plan to alter the existing zoning arrangement, saying it is an attempt to humiliate and alienate the Southeast within the party.
They warned that the PDP risks further internal disunity and mass defections if the purported plan is not reversed before the screening exercise scheduled for next week.
Ugochinyere, who spoke on behalf of the lawmakers in Abuja, said the position was originally zoned to the Southeast, with Imo State expected to produce the next National Woman Leader.
He explained that the current Southeast Zonal Woman Leader, Ifeyinwa Arodiogbu, was unanimously backed by PDP stakeholders in the region to clinch the position before Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu, now in the All Progressives Congress (APC), allegedly influenced the zoning to his state.
He said Mbah’s defection to the ruling party has rendered the earlier arrangement invalid, giving Imo State a legitimate claim to the position.
Ugochinyere disclosed that the lawmakers would issue a disclaimer against the convention in two weeks and would not participate if Imo State and the Southeast are humiliated.
According to him, there is still time to remedy the situation before Tuesday next week’s screening, adding that “no elected lawmaker from the region would remain in the PDP if the impending insult is allowed to happen.”
He said: “We don’t want to see PDP suffer more setbacks. Still, we will stick to our position on the Ibadan convention if, in the next few weeks, the position of National Woman Leader is not ceded expressly to Imo State and an Imo person is allowed to emerge.
“Now that Governor Mbah has left for APC, that earlier arrangement of producing a Woman Leader is not going to stand because Gov. Mbah’s Woman Leader nominee is also in APC with him.“This brings back a chance for the injustice to be addressed and for Imo State to produce the National Woman Leader.
“They want to provoke the entire Southeast and alienate them. Because of that, stakeholders from the Southeast, led by the federal lawmakers, are now threatening to boycott the Ibadan convention if the position of Woman Leader is not ceded to Imo State and the Southeast is allowed to produce the National Woman Leader.
“This will compound the ongoing confusion you already have in the PDP. If the remaining stakeholders from the Southeast boycott the convention, they are going to bring the party into more crisis.”
He cautioned that any attempt to tamper with the agreed zoning formula could worsen the PDP’s already fragile internal cohesion, saying, “If this injustice is allowed to stand, no elected lawmaker from the Southeast will remain in the PDP. We will also issue a disclaimer against the convention.”The lawmakers appealed to Makinde and Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, to intervene and ensure that the Southeast retains the position.
