The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it dissolved its executive committee in Akwa Ibom State because the officials had effectively lost their independence after Governor Umo Eno defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Eno, who crossed over to the APC on June 6, ended nearly 25 years of uninterrupted PDP dominance in the state.
His move also made him the second PDP governor in the South-South to abandon the party in less than two months, following Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
Explaining the decision to overhaul the state leadership, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) concluded that the dissolved executives had become aligned with the governor’s new political interests.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, October 2, he argued that their loyalty was compromised.
“In Akwa Ibom State, the governor has left. We have noticed at the National Working Committee and party level that there seem not to be a difference between the members of the executives in that state and their alignment with the All Progressives Congress,” Ologunagba stated.
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He further pointed to the party’s constitution, saying their conduct was unacceptable.
“Section 10, sub section 6 of this Constitution says, ‘No member of the party shall align with other parties or groups to undermine the party or any of its selected government. It is an anathema that you will belong to two parties at the same time,” he quoted.
For Ologunagba, the executives had essentially become an extension of Governor Eno’s new base in the APC, undermining PDP’s structure in Akwa Ibom.
“We believe the Akwa Ibom executives are being controlled by the governor who has gone to the APC. The governor said on tape that he will be in charge of the two parties,” he said.
The party maintained that the dissolution was necessary to keep its political machinery in the state intact and prevent further erosion of its influence by a governor who had already switched camp.