PDP members drag party NWC to EFCC for fraudulent practices

By Henry Umoru

APC has Infiltrated our Staff — Metuh

PLANS by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to reduce their staff strength, slash their salaries and allowances by 50%, yesterday took another dimension as the workers have vowed to fight members of the National Working Committee, NWC with their last blood, alleging corrupt practices in the party they said cost them the 2015 Presidential election.

PDP crisis

The workers’ revelations and allegations appeared so strong that party spokesman Olisa Metuh alleged that  the ruling party, APC has infiltrated their party.

The PDP workers have even invited  the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to focus its attention on the party leadership and probe them for alleged fraudulent practices.

Protesting yesterday, the PDP workers under the aegis of the PDP Workers Welfare Association alleged that the leadership of the Party under the Acting Chairman, Uche Secondus and Secretary Professor Adewale Oladipo have lost relevance and direction to lead the party and should therefore resign and face the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

In a press conference statement jointly signed by the chairman of the PDP Staff welfare Association Ngozi Nzeh and Secretary Dan Ochu-Baiye, the aggrieved workers stressed that they were surprised that members of the NWC were still hanging around to kill the party after former chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu had  resigned following the failure of the party.

The staff said, “It is curious to observe that a party which once prided itself as the biggest party in Africa could be so liquidated by such executive recklessness of its NWC members so much so that N12,000,000,000 (Twelve Billion Naira) was squandered in 9 months.

“Party members will need to know why delegates were compelled to pay the sum of N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira) each into a private account of a company called MORUFI NIG. LTD. We are aware that over N1,000,000,000 (One Billion Naira) was realized from this fraudulent exercise. Why did the NWC compel Party members to pay sums into a company account rather than the usual party account in the same Zenith Bank?

“As part of their agenda to ridicule and crumble the party, legitimate bills owed to media houses, contractors and even cleaners have not been paid till date. Most Party members who conducted congresses and primaries that generated these huge sums have also not been paid.

“Will over twelve million members of PDP believe that even as we address this press conference, the NWC are still using party finances to fund frivolous personal expenses such as weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals etc to the tuned of hundreds of millions of naira.

“Because of these ceaseless acts of recklessness and palpable fear for their fate, they have refused to summon a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) since the Party lost in the last elections. Shouldn’t any organization with a responsible leadership call for a NEC meeting for an appraisal of what transpired months after we lost elections?

“Several factors have been adduced as the reasons why the party performed so poorly in the last general elections. We make bold to say that responsibility for the abysmal outing of the party should be located directly at the doorstep of the NWC members due to the following reasons:- Criminal imposition of unpopular candidates; Mind boggling extortion of aspirants. An example here is the yet to be resolved allegation by Ndudi Godwin Elumelu who paid whopping N750,000,000 (Seven Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) to the NWC to obtain the gubernatorial ticket of the party in Delta State. There are many other victims; Appointment of incompetent cronies who were specifically detailed to return unpopular candidates as officers in congresses and primaries.  The same scenario is being played out in Kogi while Bayelsa is in the wings.

“In Kogi, it is widely alleged that the incumbent Governor was requested to cough out the sum of N1,000,000,000 (One Billion Naira) to the same NWC to retain his ticket. Non remittance of campaign funds to state chapters; Results submitted by Congress Committees were blatantly changed; Wholesome embezzlement of proceeds of sales of nomination forms.”

The workers who boasted that it has possession of incriminating documents to indict the NWC, however called  on the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), the national caucus and other critical stakeholders to invoke the relevant section of the party’s constitution to hold a NEC meeting to sack the  NWC.

It would be recalled that the PDP, barely two months into its new status as the opposition political party, after sixteen years of power,  was already struggling in all quarters and yesterday concluded to reduce its staff strength by 50%.

The party had on Wednesday  said it would reduce the salaries and allowances of its staff by 50%, those of members of the National Working Committee.

In a letter signed by PDP National Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo and addressed to all directors and administrative staff of PDP, the leadership of the Party would also reduce the number of its security by 50%.

The letter dated 29 July, 2015 with reference number PS/DD/AD/HOD/SAs/PAS and obtained by Vanguard, the Secretary who noted that the decisions were reached at the 406th meeting of the NWC yesterday, stressed that the party’s Research Directorate has also been abolished and functions of the Directorate transferred to the Peoples Democratic Institute.

The PDP while asking  its workers to  return to their respective states and prove their membership, had said, “Furthermore, Establishment staff who would remain are required to obtain individual letter of revalidation from their State Party Chapter within one month of this circular as to their suitability for service at the National Secretariat.”

The workers statements read in part: “In view of the incontrovertible fact that the current National Working Committee has lost relevance and direction and has proven grossly incompetent of leading the party out of the present quagmire, we demand their immediate resignation.

“We are surprised that while the former National Chairman, Ahmadu Adamu Muazu resigned, these harbingers of political ill-fate are still hanging on to celebrate over the misfortunes of the Party.

“Nigerians will recall that in the United Kingdom, leaders of Labour and Liberal Democrats resigned honourably following the loss of their parties in the 2015 British Parliamentary Elections. What is the PDP NWC still waiting for?  To hang on and further scavenge on the party? This must stop.

“We appeal to the Board of Trustees, the National Caucus and other members of the National Executive Committee to invoke relevant sections of the Party constitution to call for a meeting of NEC since the NWC is reluctant to do so. A stitch in time saves nine.

“We also call on the anti-graft agencies such as the EFCC, the Police, and ICPC to beam their searchlight on the nefarious activities of the PDP NWC before they finally take the party to the grave yard.

“We demand that the National Secretary and his co-travelers in the NWC unconditionally withdraw their sadistic circular and adhere strictly to the provisions of the establishment manual should they no longer require our services.

The workers also took a swipe at the National publicity secretary Olisa Metuh for failure to lead the party to victory in his home state of Anambra and lacked the morale right to question their loyalty to the party.

“We demand that the Publicity Secretary who claimed that staff of the PDP have lost touch with the state chapters withdraws the statement unconditionally. We have evidence to show that the same person who made this allegation lost woefully in his ward and polling booth in the November 16, 2013 governorship election in Anambra State where he openly campaigned for and supported the candidate of APGA against the PDP. He again lost his ward and polling booth in the state Assembly elections of April 11, 2015, the stated.

Responding,  Metuh who described their call as baseless, falsehood and contrived, stressed  that they were  only playing out the script they were handed by the opposition APC party, adding,  the party was aware of plots by the APC to infiltrate her members and create confusion within the party and that is what these aggrieved staffers are doing.

According to him, the protest by its workers was a distraction orchestrated by the APC for members of the public’s attention be diverted from these critical issues that they have raised.

Metuh who wondered how come it was now that the PDP has become a thorn in the flesh of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its government at the centre that these kind of internal protests were sprouting, however maintained that the real issues were for the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) Lawal Daura to resign ditto for the Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

 

PDP members drag party NWC to EFCC for fraudulent practices