A major crisis has hit the main opposition party in Abia State, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, after its chairman, Elder Abraham Amah, announced the suspension of the Party’s Board of Trustees, BOT, Chairman, Senator Adolph Wabara over alleged anti-party activities.
The internal crisis rocking the party took a dramatic twist, when a few hours following the purported suspension of Wabara, a factional group, Frontiers for Change and Progress, announced the expulsion of the State PDP Chairman, Abraham Amah, alleging impersonation.
The centre could no longer hold for Wabara since he fell out of favour, first with ex-Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, over zoning of the governorship slot of the party.
“The resultant altercation robbed him of the chairmanship of the governing council of Abia State University. Then his innocuous comments on the performance of Governor Alex Otti, which he declared would naturally earn him a second term ticket and finally his recent face-off with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike over the party’s lingering crisis.
Wabara has refused to be sucked into the present imbroglio, rejecting his suspension and dismissing Amah’s actions as a “big joke.”
Announcing Amah’s expulsion in Umuahia, the National Coordinator of Frontiers for Change and Progress, Emeka Yellow Ikpegbu, stated that Amah lacked the constitutional power to suspend Wabara as PDP BoT Chairman.
“We heard this afternoon that one Amah Abraham, parading as Abia PDP Chairman, claimed he had suspended the BoT chairman of our great party, His Excellency, Senator Adolphus Wabara. He even claimed he had removed him as the BoT Chairman of the PDP.
But those of us who know Abraham Amah are not surprised. We know his antecedents. He claims to be PDP Chairman, but the truth remains that Abia PDP has no EXCO at the moment. There was a court injunction stopping the purported congress that produced him,” Ikpegbu declared.
He insisted that only the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) had the constitutional authority to suspend the BoT Chairman, citing three constitutional conditions under which he could be suspended including, a formal petition of misconduct from Senator Wabara’s ward, an invitation for him to respond to allegations in a properly constituted committee and a failure to appear before the committee constituted for that purpose.
Meanwhile, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) has dismissed the suspension of Wabara as null and void.
Reacting to the suspension via a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Hon Debo Ologunagba, the National Working Committee reminded Amah of the constitutional provisions regarding the discipline of the party’s leaders.
The statement reads, “The attention of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to the purported suspension of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of our great Party, Distinguished Senator Adolphus Wabara from the Party
“The NWC categorically dismisses the purported suspension as null and void and of no effect whatsoever not being consistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017) and laid down Rules of our great Party.”
The PDP national Secretariat condemned the action as reckless and unconstitutional and warned it would “not hesitate to take appropriate disciplinary actions to preserve the stability of our Party and the sanctity of its Constitution.”
The NWC also called on “leaders, critical stakeholders, members and supporters of our Party in Abia State, the South East Zone and indeed across the country to disregard the purported suspension.”
