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By Cosmas Omegoh
A fact of PDP in Imo State, PDP Critical Stakeholders, has advised the leadership of the party, particularly the National Working Committee (NWC), on how to fill the vacant positions created by the exit of the seven members of the State Working Committee (SWC) who resigned recently.
Spokesman of the Imo PDP Critical Stakeholders, Comrade Kenneth Chukwuemeka Akunnakwe, cautioned that filling the vacant positions must follow due process and in line with the party’s laid down rules for the exercise.
Akunnakwe said: “The resignation of the seven members of the State Working Committee is unfortunate; but the party must move ahead. One fact is fundamentally clear: we, as a party, must ensure that rules and regulations as well as due process and procedures are diligently followed in the compulsory venture of replacing former SWC members.”
Akunnakwe who was the former chairman of Oru West LGA, pointed out that the exit of some of the erstwhile Imo PDP executive members was not the first of its kind hence a orderly precedent had been established to that regard.
He said: “We are very much aware that this is not the first time such occurrence is taking place in our great party. What it means is that there is already an established precedent on how to face such a situation as we now have it in our hands just as our party constitution is very much clear on this.”
He added that “one basic point is: all positions in the SWC are located and based on the federal constituencies. And, in the federal constituencies, the positions are micro zoned to the respective local government areas to give all segments a sense of belonging.”
The Imo PDP Critical Stakeholders noted that the party being an organised institution had provided in its constitution (People’s Democratic Party 2007 Constitution as Amended) how to replace its executive members who die, resign, (are) incapacitated or impeached while in office.
The group, therefore, frowned at the surreptitious activities of some leaders of the party in the state who have been going around in fragrant contravention of the provisions of the party’s constitution on how to replace the position of executive members who resigned.
Akunnakwe quoted the party’s constitution of Article 47(6) on the provisions on how to replace any executive member at any level who resigns. “That section of our party constitution says, ‘where a vacancy occurs in any of the offices of the party, the Executive Committee, at the appropriate level shall appoint another person from the area or zone where officer originated from, pending the conduct of election to fill the vacancy.
“The PDP as I have stated is an organized, disciplined and well established institution, therefore, we do things based on law and ethics. To that effect, those our leaders who think they can by themselves only handpick their protégés for the vacant executive positions by way of maneuvering or bypassing our great party’s constitution, are political nitwits who practically do not understand the workings of what party processes and procedures are all about.
“By way of advice, the way to go about it is: in each of the federal constituencies, in this regard, all the leaders must meet those affected by the recent resignations, discuss and agree, at least on this matter.
The Imo PDP Critical Stakeholders cautioned that since the party was facing an election, there was a need to avoid crisis in the party. It also said that it would not hesitate to oppose and expose anybody working against the party in the guise of replacing members of the SWC who resigned.
