Ebonyi PDP Turmoil

Despite a Federal High Court ruling last Thursday that reportedly dismissed the Fred Udogu-led Caretaker Committee and affirmed the State Executive Working Committee chaired by Onyekachi Nwebonyi as the legitimate leadership of the party in the state, the leadership tussle rocking the Ebonyi State division of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could not be resolved soon.

This is as the camp of Fred Udogu has vowed to challenge the Appeal Court judgment, describing it as full of flaws.

It is believed that the political battle of those who control the PDP leadership in Ebonyi State began on November 17, 2020, when the National Working Committee of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party of Nigeria ordered the dissolution of the Onyekachi Nwebonyi-led Ebonyi State Working Committee, following the defection of Governor Dave Umahi from the PDP to the All Progressive Congress.

The NWC of the PDP had based its intervention on the accusation that the Nwebonyi-led SWC was faithful to the governor who had changed the political party.

A nine-man provisional committee led by Fred Udogu was subsequently inaugurated by the PDP to lead the political party’s affairs in the state.

But, with the expelled commission, which obtained relief at the Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, the state capital of Ebonyi, the national body’s decision did not go well.

On February 11, 2021, Justice Aluko Akintayo ruled that the supposed abolition of the state PDP executive committee by the national body was null and void. Still, he added, the Udogu camp will appeal the court’s ruling.

Political watchers in the state of Ebonyi claim that the internal turmoil within the PDP could dampen their chances of a potential state election unless the conflict is resolved rapidly.