By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
As the dust over the just concluded national convention of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is yet to settle, a chieftain of the party in Ebonyi state, Chief Abia Onyike has accused a prominent member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of trading off the South East block votes at the convention.
Onyike, a former Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi state who spoke on the Ebonyi PDP Leadership Tussle on Channels Television breakfast programme Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, alleged that the abysmal performance of PDP presidential aspirants of South East extraction was masterminded by PDP National Secretary, Chief Samuel Anyanwu.
He also blamed Anyanwu for the crisis not only in Ebonyi state chapter of PDP but across the five states of the South East geopolitical zone, adding that the crisis came because of the scramble to manipulate the delegates from the South East to vote for a preferred candidate.
Said he: “The National Secretary is responsible for the crisis in the South East PDP. He trade off the 95 delegate votes from the South East zone else how can anyone explain that South East aspirants got a total of 15 votes while 80 votes were traded off”.
Explaining further, Onyike posited that former Senate President, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim who got a total of 14 votes in the election may have been voted for by the 13 delegates from 13 Local Government Areas of Ebonyi state.
“It goes without saying that the 13 out of 14 votes Anyim got may have come from the 13 LGAs of Ebonyi state so where did the rest of the South East bulk votes go to?”, Onyike queried.
He accused Anyanwu of working for a certain aspirant who he alleged installed him as the PDP scribe abinitio, just as he is blaming the NWC for the crisis rocking PDP in Ebonyi state at the moment.
However, Mr. Okoroafor Okorie, Factional Chairman PDP Ebonyi state has exonerated the PDP National Secretary of any blame for the dismal performance of PDP presidential aspirants of South East origin.
He also accused Onyike of working against Anyim and other South East geopolitical zone to the advantage of an aspirant from the Northern region.
Said he: “It is not true that PDP National Secretary was responsible for the woes of the aspirants from the South East geopolitical zone or the crisis in Ebonyi state. I disagree with him totally “.
Meanwhile, the Factional Chairman has admonished the PDP NWC to be firm in its decisions as he will not understand why the National Publicity Secretary would issue conflicting statements on the Ebonyi PDP leadership tussle.
