The Enugu State executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Barr. Steve Oruruo, has dismissed the caretaker committee appointed by the National Working Committee (NWC) to oversee the party’s affairs in the state.
DAILY GAZETTE recalls that the caretaker committee, headed by Hon. Vitus Okechi, was appointed following the PDP’s Elective National Convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Addressing journalists on Friday, Oruruo insisted that he remains the legitimate chairman of the PDP in Enugu State.
He emphasized that any parallel leadership, regardless of its guise, should be rejected.
According to him, the PDP Enugu State leadership remains intact under his chairmanship and the executives who were duly elected during the State Congress of the party on October 31, 2024.
He stressed that the purported dissolution of the Enugu State Executive during the National Congress in Ibadan is invalid.
Oruruo said the action violates the party constitution, particularly Section 45 (2–4) and Section 47 (6), which clearly provide that the tenure of a state chairman should be completed by the Vice Chairman and State Secretary upon the resignation of the chairman, which is the case in Enugu State.
He added:
“It has become compelling and pertinent to address you particularly against the backdrop of increasing volume of discordant tunes within the leadership of the PDP both at the national and sub-national levels.
“The motion moved at Ibadan Convention to dissolve a duly elected State Executive Committee of the Enugu State Chapter of the PDP on perceived premise of the Enugu governor’s defection without deference to the express provisions of the party’s Constitution which authorized the state deputy chairman to automatically assume the office of the chairman upon his resignation or removal, was not only misguided and prejudiced but a cruel travesty of justice.
“I hereby implore the party faithfuls, our teeming supporters and the general public to expressly be vigilant as this is only but a glimpse of their mutating theatricals to come.”
Oruruo further noted that the dissolution motion disobeys a court order that reaffirmed him as the state chairman, alongside Hon. Martins Onyeanwa Ugwuamadi-Eze as the state secretary, in accordance with the party constitution after the resignation of the former chairman, Dr. Martins Chukwunweike, and former state secretary.
He explained:
“A subsisting court order reaffirming yours sincerely and Hon. Martins Onyeanwa Ugwuamadi-Eze as the State Chairman and Secretary of PDP Enugu State Chapter, in strict compliance with the express provisions of section 45 (2–4) and Section 47 (6) of the the Constitution of the party after the resignation of Dr. Martins Chukwunweike and Hon. Chukwudi Nnadozie was duly served on the National Secretariat of the party via the immediate past National Chairman of the party, H.E. Ambassador Umar Damagun.
“The same order compelling the National Executive Committee of the party to immediately recognize my constitutional right and that of the secretary to serve out the term of the former chairman and the former secretary in line with the constitution of the party was duty served.
“This order went ahead to restrain the National Executive Committee of the party from appointing any other person or persons to take over the offices of the chairman and secretary of the Enugu State Chapter of the PDP.
“Therefore, it is salient to mention that whoever purportedly dissolved the Executive Committee of the Enugu PDP without deference to the express and clear provisions of the party’s Constitution and without taking cognizance to a subsisting order of court is a clear contravention of the law and in contempt of an order of court.”
He urged all party faithful and supporters to remain steadfast and disregard any distractions intended to destabilize the party.
