Why we reinstated our formerly sacked chairman – Abia PDP

– The PDP in Abia on Monday, December 3, returned its chairman, Chief Johnson Onuigbo, to his office

– Onuigbo was on Tuesday, November 27, sacked from his office based on allegations of usurpation of offices, impunity and imposition

– However, the leadership of the party in the state said that the issues surrounding Onuigbo’s sack have been resolved amicably

The Abia chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Johnson Onuigbo, suspended on Tuesday, November 27, over alleged lack of transparency and accountability has been reinstated.

Chief Matthew Ibe, the Abia north zonal vice chairman of the party told newsmen in Umuahia on Monday, December 3, that the issue leading to the chairman’s suspension had been amicably resolved.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 19 members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party met and issued a communiqué that suspended Onuigbo as the chairman. The committee replaced the chairman with his vice, Chief Chima Onyegbu.

The SWC accused Onuigbo of lack of transparency and accountability and illegal acquisition of wealth at the detriment of the party.

The committee further alleged that he was piloting the affairs of the party as a `private estate’, characterised by usurpation of offices, impunity and imposition.

Ibe, who was one of the signatories of the communiqué, said that the matter had been resolved. According to him, the little issue has been resolved, hence the meeting of the SWC.

“We hereby withdraw the communique,” Ibe, who was a former member of the Abia House of Assembly, said.

He gave assurance that further steps would be taken to retract the allegations against the chairman in writing.

The briefing, which was organised at the end of the party’s EXCO meeting, was presided over by Onuigbo, with all the EXCO members in attendance.

In his speech, Onuigbo attributed the disagreement to `devil’, saying that it was designed by the enemy to disrupt the peace and cause distraction in the party.

He said that the matter had been amicably settled and that all the party organs were working harmoniously. He thanked Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu for his quick intervention adding that peace had returned to the party.

“It is my pleasure to inform you that Abia PDP has resolved its differences amicably. PDP is one family and a peace-loving party, where everybody wants to belong. We are intact and there is no division in the party,” he said.

He described the reconciliation and peace as `genuine’ hoping it would endure because it involved the highest decision-making organ of the party.

Onuigbo said that the party held peaceful, free, fair and credible primaries; hence there were no post-primaries defections by aspirants that lost.

The party chairman said that the party would work hard as usual to ensure victory at all levels during the 2019 general elections.

“The party is moving toward the general elections. We are going to work very hard as usual to make sure we have a resounding victory. We know that it is not going to be a tea party,” the chairman said, and prayed that the 2019 polls would be peaceful, free, fair and credible.

Meanwhile, TRACKNEWS.NG reported that three Abia senators on the platform of the PDP on Tuesday, October 2, clinched the tickets of the party for the 2019 general elections in the state.

While Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia south, went through the crucible of a keenly contested race to grab his ticket, his counterparts from Abia north and Abia central, Senators Mao Ohuabunwa and Theodore Orji, literally got theirs without stress.

Abaribe, who seeks to return to the upper chamber for the fourth tenure, polled 413 votes to defeat three other contestants.