PDP Vows to Halt Anambra War This Year

Vanguard (Lagos)
NEWS
December 9, 2003
Posted to the web December 9, 2003

By Bolade Omonijor
Lagos
THE political logjam in Anambra State which, weekend, culminated in a shootout
between security aides of Governor Chris Ngige and his erstwhile godfather,
Chief Chris Uba, will be resolved by the end of this year, according to the
National Vice Chairman (South-West) of the ruling PDP, Chief Olabode George.
Speaking yesterday on a visit to Vanguard at Apapa, Lagos, Chief George said
the party leaders found the situation unacceptable and would do all that was
necessary to reposition the party in the state.
His words: "In the next few days, the party will come up with something on
Anambra. I am positive about that. Though we have only a few days to the end of
the year, I am sure the crisis would be resolved before the year runs out. That
is our commitment in the party."
Specifically addressing the shootout, Chief George said he was yet to receive
official briefing on the matter. He, however, said unofficial information
available to him indicated that as soon as the governor's convoy drove into the
venue of the congress, it opened fire which the others responded to, thus
causing a needless pandemonium.
The PDP chieftain expressed the view that the best way out of the crisis would
be finding a political solution. According to him, since the party is
interested in maintaining its hold on the state, it may apply sanctions, but at
the end of it all, it has to call the parties together to work out an enduring
solution. "If you beat with the right hand you have to draw closer with the
left," Chief George said.
He explained that those advocating that a party to the crisis be treated as
coup plotters were adopting the position because they did not have enough
information on what transpired or, as civilians, did not know what transpired
at a coup trial. He maintained that if the matter was treated as advocated, the
governor's group would be dragged along by the accused who would ensure that
they all go down together.
Chief George blamed the festering sore that the Anambra debacle has become on
the failure of leaders at the state level to come up with a solution. In the
view of Chief George, who was the first person to head a fact-finding committee
on the crisis, "the elders who should have formed the first line of resolving
it failed to act. You would expect that in a state that produced people like
the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Mbanefos and even our own Dr Alex Ekwueme who
was the founding father of the party and then Chairman of the Board of
Trustees, such a thing would have been nipped in the bud."
He further enthused: "In fairness to Dr Ekwueme, when we sought his assistance
at the beginning of the decay in the state, he sought to intervene, called a
meeting which ended in a fracas. Chairs were hurled about and shots fired. We
gathered that the old man himself had to duck under the table. That was the
situation."
Chief George denied that the president had a hand in the crisis. In his words:
"Of what benefit is it to him as President to have one of his governors
removed? It could have a domino effect and that is the last thing he would
want. Politics is a game of numbers. Because it is a political matter and there
is a chief executive officer for political matters, that is the party chairman,
he has allowed him to handle the matter. The chairman himself started by saying
we would not accept this and that. But, he had to soften his stance later
because this is politics."

   

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