PDP crisis: C’River chapter says Sept. 27 Congress will take place

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Cross River chapter has said that the scheduled Sept. 27 congress will take place.

The State Working Committee (SWC) made the remark while speaking with our correspondent in Calabar on Thursday.

Venatius Ikem, the Chairman of the SWC, noted a statement by the national publicity secretary of the party postponing the congress but insisted that it would hold as planned.

Our correspondent reports that the party had been battling with the SWC in the state with the announcement of the committee dissolution before the end of its tenure.

It also directed the South-South Zonal Caretaker committee to take over the running of the state chapter until a new leadership was elected.

It explained that this was necessary in order not to leave a vacuum in the state leadership since the tenure of the SWC had expired.

However, Ikem debunked the claim that the tenure of SWC, which he leads, had expired while insisting that the Congress would hold as planned on Saturday,

He alleged that some interested persons who wanted to take over the affairs of the State Chapter of the PDP were bent on creating crisis where none existed.

Ikem alleged that the purported dissolution of the SWC, which was yet to expired on Sept. 29, was to have way for the emergence of preferred candidates in the congress.

“The National Working Committee (NWC) is not the National Executive Committee (NEC) of which I’m a member.

“The NEC of the party fixed that date, September 27 for the Congress and the only five or so persons of the NWC that are here cannot, in their social media platform, begin to churn out ridiculous rules.

“So, they cannot; they have no moral authority, no legal authority, no constitutional authority, to go behind NEC to take such a decision.

According to him, as a member of NEC, I know that there are instances where they can take decision on behalf of NEC, but not on this, not in this kind of situation.

Ikem insisted that the Congress would hold as planned as everything, logistics, had been put in place for a successful Congress on Saturday.

He said that the NEC or the NWC, especially, had no right to organise a congress for any state but each organ of the party was empowered to organise congress according to the level.

He explained that the state congress would be organised by the state chapter at its level while the committee from national would have to monitor it.