The Suspension of Nwodo

Nwodo left the corridors of PDP some years ago. Upon his return and immediate assumption of the chairmanship of the party in June 2010, he made a costly mistake. One he might have thought was too unimportant to affect anything, well today it has. Just two weeks ago, a lawyer in his state- Enugu had filed a complaint to the state judiciary to check the ineligibility and conspiracy behind his chairman. This many took with a grain of salt.
Days after this suit, what has now become Nwodo’s Achilles was another lawsuit filed against the ineligibility of Nwodo as chairman, because he is not even first of all a member, and hence should cannot vote or carry out any function within the party, even more so the national chairman’s role. At this juncture, one wonders, how can a party chairman not be a party member? Apparently when Nwodo returned to PDP, he did not register as a member (guessing he thought it was automatic) and even upon questioning in recent times, Nwodo confirmed all this.
The question that now beacons is that is the timing of his sake or suspension right or wrong? Given that H.E Nwodo had arrived this morning at Eagle Square for the presidential primaries to perform his duty as chairman. He had even given an opening speech until he was interrupted by party leaders and the party’s legal advisor claim that even though they have not seen the supposedly served interim order, it will in the best interest of the party to appoint the current vice chairman as acting chairman until the air is clear on Nwodo’s position. This he further states that would ensure the primaries are not jeopardized. Now, does this mean the order was never served to Nwodo or he never even knew about it? Well, my very much connected sources confirmed that Nwodo has been wittingly avoiding the deliverance of the plaintiff to him. Sadly, words spread faster than anyone’s wit.
It so sad because I personally like this man as I feel he is a good leader, good intentioned and willed. He to me is one to put PDP back in its glory, at a time when the party is facing the defection of party members to opposition parties whenever things do not go their way. Now optimism on what he can offer the PDP is not shared by many though, as some party faithfuls are not particularly impressed with the ways of the former governor. Nwodo has been championing the return or reigniting of “dead” party stalwarts who seem to have been forgotten. An example would be the former governor of Anambra state, Chief Chinwoke Mbadinuju. The reasoning behind this thought would be that PDP can get stronger if these stalwarts are involved in the affairs to give their experience and trusted followership to the party as individuals like President Obasanjo would bring. This one first thought would be an excellence way to go. People who do not see reasoning in this see this as not trusting new party members with the responsibility of galvanizing support or even worse, re introducing these people to run for positions that they can rather run for, especially as these people have served before.
In the middle of this whole suspension fracas, you would think Nwodo’s statesmen would be behind him at this point, but that is met with a big nay. On Monday January 17, 2011, Punch Daily released a publication, “South- East PDP passes vote of no confidence in Nwodo”. In this publication, it was said that the South East chapter of the party on Sunday, passed a vote of no confidence and further stated that Nwodo should resign or face the risk of expulsion from the party. This is really suprising I must say but it should be though. Recently, we heard news of faction between the suspended chairman and the governor of his state. This is the start of why the South East chapter is not on Nwodo’s side.
In as much as I am disappointed that something of little difficulty as ensuring you tie up all loopholes in a country like Nigeria where people campaign based on criticizing the oppositions position, rather than tell you what they can do (Atiku against Jonathan as a case study), I feel like this a time for us to all learn that there is a new wave rushing over the country’s judicial system. We now find the court system doing its job in ensuring that all legalities are been followed and justice is served. The regaining of the state house by Rauf Aregbesola and Gov. Fayemi and the re run in Delta State, shows the judges are now willing to punish the crooked and voice the opinion of the mass. I restate my adoration of Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo and hope that this current warm air that is passing over him passes by. I would really like him to be re instated and supported as Chairman once again. Of course, for those who know me, there might be a bias in my adoration of him, as he is father to a good friend of mine.