By Abiola Olawale
The crisis within the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has intensified as the South-East lawmakers have issued a strong warning, threatening to boycott the party’s upcoming National Convention if their demand for the woman leader seat, originally zoned to Imo State, is not met.
A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Imo Ugochinyere, in a statement issued Sunday, said that they would issue a disclaimer against the convention in two weeks and would not participate if the South-east is humiliated by those who want to rubbish an entire region.
Ugochinyere maintained that the party has to give the woman leader seat to the South-East before next week’s screening, saying that no elected lawmaker from the South-East would remain in PDP if the impending insult is allowed to happen.
Ugochinyere stated: “The current South-east zonal woman leader, Ifeyinwa Arodiogbu, was unanimously backed by South-east PDP chieftains to clinch the position before Governor Mbah, who is now in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) allegedly influenced the zoning to Enugu and took the woman leader for Enugu after supporting Governor Makinde to take the National Secretary that belonged to South-east and Imo State to South-west.
“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 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 Governor Mbah’s woman leader nominee is also in APC with him.
“Now, this brings back a chance for the injustice to be addressed and for Imo State to produce the national woman leader. However, confirmed information is filtering in that some people, especially Governor Makinde of Oyo State, are now trying to move that woman leader position out of the South-east to the South-south because of their disdain and disrespect for PDP members from the South-east.
“They want to provoke the entire Southeast and alienate them. Because of that, stakeholders from the South-east, 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 South-east is allowed to produce the national woman leader.”
