PDP staff beg EFCC to probe party

The staff of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have appealed to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the party over allegations of corruption.

The appeal of the PDP staff welfare committee, an association of the party’s staff led by Ngozi Nzeh, is coming a day after Wale Oladipo, secretary of the PDP, announced that the party was cutting down the number of its staff and their salaries by 50 percent.

In a statement signed by Nzeh, issued after a press conference at the PDP secretariat in Abuja on Friday, the PDP staff alleged that the party was being ruined by corruption and greed of the National Working Committee (NWC).

Calling for the immediate resignation of all members of the NWC, the staff also alleged that the party squandered N12 billion in nine months on frivolities such as weddings, naming ceremonies and parties.

“It is no longer news that the political fortunes of the PDP have continued to dwindle since the coming on board of the present national working committee in March 2012. The party, under the current leadership of Prince Uche Secondus as acting National Chairman and Professor Wale Oladipo as National Secretary, has been systematically and deliberately dismembered and is being led to the morgue in preparation for its final burial,” they said.

“Never in the glorious history of our great party has its fortunes been so hopelessly mismanaged by an inept and dishonest group whose sworn mission is to permanently destroy and liquidate the lofty organization that midwifed the current democratic dispensation.

“The current National Working Committee is only hanging on because of the obscene and bizarre bazaar which they have subjected the purse of the party to. Millions of PDP members are in great pains with the current reality of how the party, which in the recent past paraded the most decent and nationalistic Nigerians, is now being run aground by a patently incompetent and self-centered set of NWC members.

“We wonder if this is the same PDP that was once led by the great Dr. Alex Ekwueme and Chief Solomon Lar. Is it the same PDP that was led by Chief Barnabas Gemade? Is it the same party that was once led by Audu Ogbeh and Amadu Ali? Is the party still as formidable as when it was led by Prince Vincent Eze Ogbulafor and the erudite Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo? Is it the same party that was victoriously managed by Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed?

“In the last few days, the staff of the secretariat were confronted by an ill-digested and childish circular written by Prof. Wale Oladipo, which summarily terminated their appointments. If anybody deserves his or her appointment terminated, it is this group of fortune hunters who ruined the electoral fortunes of the party through unprecedented greed marked by extortion, graft and strange avarice.

“It is curious to observe that a party which once prided itself as the biggest party in Africa could be so liquidated by such executive recklessness of its NWC members so much so that N12 billion was squandered in 9 months.

“Party members will need to know why delegates were compelled to pay the sum of N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira) each into a private account of a company called  MORUFI NIG. LTD. We are aware that over N1 billion was realized from this fraudulent exercise.

“Why did the NWC compel party members to pay sums into a company account rather than the usual party account in the same Zenith Bank? As part of their agenda to ridicule and crumble the party, legitimate bills owed to media houses, contractors and even cleaners have not been paid till date. Most party members who conducted congresses and primaries that generated these huge sums have also not been paid.

“Will over 12 million members of PDP believe that even as we address this press conference, the NWC is still using party finances to fund frivolous personal expenses such as weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals etc to the tunes of hundreds of millions naira.

“Because of these ceaseless acts of recklessness and palpable fear for their fate, they have refused to summon a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) since the party lost in the last elections. Shouldn’t any organization with a responsible leadership call for a NEC meeting for an appraisal of what transpired months after we lost elections?

“Several factors have been adduced as the reasons why the party performed so poorly in the last general elections. We make bold to say that responsibility for the abysmal outing of the party should be located directly at the doorstep of the NWC members due to the following reasons: Criminal imposition of unpopular candidates; mind boggling extortion of aspirants. An example here is the yet-to-be resolved allegation by Ndudi Godwin Elumelu who paid whopping N750,000,000 to the NWC to obtain the gubernatorial ticket of the party in Delta State. There are many other victims.

“Appointment of incompetent cronies who were specifically detailed to return unpopular candidates as officers in congresses and primaries. The same scenario is being play out in Kogi while Bayelsa is in the wings. In Kogi, it is widely alleged that the incumbent governor was requested to cough up the sum of N1 billion to the same NWC to retain his ticket.

“Non-remittance of campaign funds to state chapters; results submitted by Congress Committees were blatantly changed; wholesome embezzlement of proceeds of sales of nomination forms. How on earth will any political party undergo this level of tortuous mismanagement and expect to win elections?

“These, among others, are some of the questions the staff of the PDP National Secretariat are asking for which their heads are being demanded by the NWC. In view of the incontrovertible fact that the current National Working Committee has lost relevance and direction and has proven grossly incompetent of leading the party out of the present quagmire, we demand their immediate resignation.

“We are surprised that while the former National Chairman, Ahmadu Adamu Muazu resigned, these harbingers of political ill-fate are still hanging on to celebrate over the misfortunes of the party.

“Nigerians will recall that in the United Kingdom, leaders of Labour and Liberal Democrats resigned honourably following the loss of their parties in the 2015 British Parliamentary Elections. What is the PDP NWC still waiting for? To hang on and further scavenge on the party? This must stop.

“We demand that the Publicity Secretary who claimed that staff of the PDP have lost touch with the state chapters withdraws the statement unconditionally. We have evidence to show that the same person who made this allegation lost woefully in his ward and polling booth in the November 16, 2013 governorship election in Anambra State where he openly campaigned for and supported the candidate of APGA against the PDP. He again lost his ward and polling booth in the state Assembly elections of April 11, 2015.

“We appeal to the Board of Trustees, the National Caucus and other members of the National Executive Committee to invoke relevant sections of the party constitution to call for a meeting of NEC since the NWC is reluctant to do so. A stitch in time saves nine.

“We also call on the anti-graft agencies such as the EFCC, the Police, and ICPC to beam their searchlight on the nefarious activities of the PDP NWC before they finally take the party to the grave yard.

“We demand that the national secretary and his co-travellers in the NWC unconditionally withdraw their sadistic circular and adhere strictly to the provisions of the establishment manual should they no longer require our services.”