Felix Ikem, Nsukka
With growing political unrest in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State since the release of the timetable for local government election coming on February 29, this is not the best of times for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the council area.
Tens of candidates have come out of political hibernation to contest for the Chairmanship position in the council area.
Protests, however, broke out in the council area following the re-endorsement of the immediate past Chairman, Chief Patrick Omeje Jnr, for a second tenure by PDP stakeholders. This is coming on the heels of allegations of poor performance in his first tenure.
Penultimate week, hundreds of placard-carrying youths blocked major roads in Nsukka in protest, rejecting the candidature of Chief Omeje.
Last Friday, the Nsukka local government office of the PDP was razed by unknown persons.
The protesting youths have accused Nsukka PDP stakeholders and state Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of imposing Chief Omeje on them; an allegation strongly denied by Hon. Chinedu Nwamba, a lawmaker representing Nsukka East in the Enugu State House of Assembly.
As tension escalates, stakeholders in the council area were huddled into closed-door discussions on Monday in an attempt to find a lasting solution to the crisis.
In a communique released after the meeting, the stakeholders condemned the burning of the PDP office in Nsukka. They apologised to Governor Ugwuanyi for the activities of the “miscreants” for trying to cause a crisis in the state.
The communique, which was presented by Nwamba, partly reads:
“We are here to review the recent happenings on the political and cultural issues and resolved as follows; that we condemn in totality the miscreants that carried protest in Nsukka local government and it’s environs.
“Again we also condemn the arson carried out in Nsukka Local government PDP secretariat and also urge the security agencies to fish out the culprits and bring them to book.
“At Nsukka local governments we are resolute in the candidature of Chief Patrick Omeje as agreed during the stakeholders meeting with the leadership of the party in the state.
“The Transition Committee Chairman of Nsukka LG council Hon. Chinwe Ugwu and the candidate of our party Chief Omeje as agreed at the stakeholders meeting have pledged to work in synergy to deliver all the PDP candidates in the forthcoming local government elections.
“We apologize to Governor Ugwuanyi, and on behalf of the people of Nsukka local government on the recent activities of some few miscreants from our local government.”
Among those stakeholders present at the meeting were: Senator Fide Okoro, Mr Vita Abba, Hon Tony Ugwu and many others
Daily Sun gathered that Governor Ugwuanyi was said to have called all the stakeholders to the Government House, Enugu, where they agreed that Chief Omeje should go back and complete his second tenure as Nsukka LG council chairman.