The leadership tussle enveloping the Anambra state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party ,PDP, appears to be rearing its ugly head again as the state executive committee and some major stakeholders at the weekend disowned the factional chairman of the party, Prince Ken Emeakayi, saying he was an impostor by laying claims to an office he has no title to.
It could be recalled that Emeakayi had over the time laid claim to the state chairmanship position of the party, citing court judgments which saddled him on the position, thus leading to leadership tussle as there was an elected state executive committee led by Chief Ejike Oguebego, which has tenure of four years to be in office.
The attending confusion the tussle created has led to factionalization in the party and this became more prominent during the last year governorship election in the state, with the PDP National Working Committee pitching tent with the Emeakayi group; while the electoral umpire, Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, stated that it recognized and would only deal with the Oguebego led group because it emerged through a congress that it supervised.
Nevertheless, issues recently came to a head when Emeakayi was reported to have sent text messages to some stakeholders of the party from the state, inviting them to Abuja to pay a courtesy visit on the new PDP National Chairman, Dr. Adamu Mu’azu, which he slated for February 4, 2014.
But this was not to be as the Oguebego leadership intercepted the text and countered it, advising stakeholders invited by Emeakayi for the visit to be properly guided as they were being misled.
Rising from an enlarged executive committee meeting of the state chapter of the PDP held at the party’s state secretariat in Awka at the weekend, State chairman of the party announced in a press briefing that Emeakayi by every intent and purposes was laying claims and usurping an office he had no title to and warned him to desist from parading himself in that capacity.
Oguebego also used the opportunity to congratulate the new National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Adamu Mu’azu, who he described as a seasoned gentleman, who believes in internal democracy and the rule of law.
While pledging the support of his leadership to the new National executive of PDP, Oguebego urged Mu’azu to use his good offices to reconcile all the misdeeds done in the Anambra state chapter of the party so as to ensure equity and fair-play.
He equally expressed the state executive committee’s loyalty to President Goodluck Jonathan and stressed their support for his transformation agenda and his untiring efforts to address the issues of security challenges in the country.