The leadership tussle rocking the Ebonyi State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, may not be resolved soon despite a Federal High Court judgment last Thursday that sacked the Fred Udogu-led Caretaker Committee and affirmed the State Executive Working Committee headed by Onyekachi Nwebonyi as the authentic leadership of the party in the state.
The Udogu camp has vowed to challenge the judgment at the Appeal Court, describing it as full of flaws.
The political battle for who controls the PDP leadership in Ebonyi State is believed to have started on November 17, 2020, when the National Working Committee, NWC, of Nigeria’s major opposition party, PDP ordered the dissolution of the Onyekachi Nwebonyi led Ebonyi State Working Committee, following the defection of Governor Dave Umahi, from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The PDP NWC had premised its action on the allegation that the Nwebonyi – led SWC was loyal to the Governor who had switched political party.
The PDP subsequently inaugurated a nine-man interim committee headed by Fred Udogu to pilot the affairs of the political party in the state.
But the decision of the national body did not go down well with the ousted committee, who sought redress at the Federal High court sitting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
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Justice Aluko Akintayo on February 11, 2021, ruled that the purported dissolution of the state PDP executive committee by the national body was null and void.
The Udogu camp said it will appeal the decision of the court.
Political watchers in Ebonyi state are of the opinion that the internal crisis within PDP could dampen its chances at future elections in the state unless the dispute is speedily resolved.
Editor: Oloyede Oworu
