Seven members of the Imo State Working Committee (SWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have resigned from their various positions and dumped the party.
The officials announced their resignation in a statement they jointly signed, which was made available to DAILY POST by Collins Opurozor, the Imo PDP State publicity secretary, on Sunday in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
Those who resigned are Sir Martins Ejiogu, deputy chairman, Ray Emeana, secretary, and Greg G.O.C. Nwadike, youth leader.
Others include Collins Opurozor, publicity secretary; Mrs Maria Mbakwe, women leader; Josiah Eze, treasurer; and Chibuisi Obido, vice chairman, Orlu Zone.
The group of seven members of the Imo PDP SWC claimed that there is no indication that Senator Anyanwu is running for governorship in November. “If he claims to be running, it is not to our knowledge as members of the State Working Committee,” they claimed.
According to the statement: “The party does not know what his program looks like. That is, if he has any. Governorship campaigns have started, yet the party does not also know if there is anything like a campaign council.
“The rent for the Party Secretariat has since expired, and the landlord has kept harassing us. Party staff have gone without salaries since Senator Anyanwu emerged as the candidate of the party. The party cannot afford to fuel our power generating set and even purchase stationery for our offices.
“Yet, someone is parading himself as our governorship candidate. This deceit cannot be allowed to continue, and we cannot lend ourselves as tools for the deception of the Imo people. Never.
“In view of the foregoing and many other shocking discoveries which will soon be made public, we, the undersigned members of the Imo State Working Committee of the PDP, have resolved to resign our various positions in the party and dump the party en masse.
“We have today opened the floodgate of resignations and defections, and in the next couple of weeks, there will be only Senator Anyanwu left in the party.”
On why they resigned their positions, the party officials said: “It is heartbreaking to inform all that some of us in the State Working Committee have severally escaped assassination attempts because of the wicked lies which our National Secretary sold to his violent supporters, that they misappropriated party funds.”
They avowed that when Emeka Ihedioha held sway as leader of the party, they saw a robust, vibrant, inclusive, and functional political party system. “Every success recorded by Imo PDP is owed to the ingenuity, resources, and outstanding leadership of former Governor Ihedioha,” they claimed.
Their statement further reads: “Conversely, all the maladies that have lately befallen us are squarely the making of Samdadday. And the unjust imposition of Samdadday on us as governorship candidates by the Ayu-led National Working Committee is the second most cruel occurrence in history after Cain murdered Abel.
” When Senator Anyanwu eventually succeeded at crowning himself the governorship candidate of the party, he convened a meeting of all the LGA Youth Leaders at his residence in Owerri and confessed openly that he had lied to them about financial mismanagement in the party by the State Working Committee.
“He also apologised to the State Youth Leader for the attacks and elimination attempts he had passed through because of the falsehoods he (Samdadday) had propagated. He also recanted the lies and repeated the apologies during the only meeting he has had with us as members of the SWC since he emerged as a governorship candidate. He said all the falsehoods peddled against us by him were a result of his fight for survival.
“When the State Chairman, Charles Ugwuh, made efforts to bring the police to investigate the attack, Senator Anyanwu stood against it. Is that not shocking? How can a man who says he wants to make Imo safe again be caught aiding and abetting acts of violence and insecurity, even against his own party members?”