Crisis: PDP caretaker committee members disown Oruruo’s claim of uniting factions in Ebonyi

Uchenna Okeh, Abakaliki

The Caretaker Committee members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Ebonyi state on Monday disowned the claim by the chairman, Steve Oruruo of uniting factions in the state.

The caretaker committee members made this known in a statement signed by the Secretary, Pascal Ukwuani issued to newsmen in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State.

They however, petitioned the national working committee of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to call Steve Oruruo to order, and warned that he should stop making publications that are misleading and false.

The statement reads in part: “The attention of the Caretaker Working Committee of the Ebonyi PDP has been drawn to a publication online by the caretaker chairman of PDP in Ebonyi state, Steve Oruruo, as having united the factions in the PDP in Ebonyi state on Sunday.

“The caretaker committee wants to make it categorically clear that the publication is misleading as it’s false.

“The meeting of the Ebonyi PDP held in Enugu on the 14th of July, 2024 premise upon which Oruruo is claiming to have united the different interests in the party didn’t achieve any result as members in attendance staged a walkout, leaving behind only Oruruo, Ali Odefa and their security guards in the hall.

“For the records, the meeting which took place in Enugu by 2 pm ended in a fiasco as usual since the inauguration of Oruruo as chairman of the thirteen total number of the caretaker committee members, nine walked out on the meeting to communicate their displeasure over the manner the chairman was handling the issues bothering settlement of the crisis ravaging the party.

“Part of which he, the chairman, engineered within the few days he has assumed office as chairman of the party. Yes, there was a meeting, but it ended worse than the reason it was convoked. Paying the press to report the opposite of what transpired is one of the pitfalls of the leadership of the party by Mr Oruruo.

“It’s important at this point to let the national working committee and the entire public know that Steve Oruruo is using propaganda to communicate the affairs of our party in Ebonyi to the public.

“In clear terms, nothing reasonable was discussed and arrived at in the meeting held yesterday as the chairman and Ali Odefa besieged the venue with over 70 police officers and DSS, denying the secretary and the other nine members the opportunities to contribute to discussions about the repositioning of the party.

“This denial was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, leading to the abrupt dismissal of the meeting. We’re surprised reading from media platforms hours after where the chairman, Oruruo claimed to have settled the scores within the party during the meeting.

“As members of the caretaker committee dedicated to seeing the repositioning of the party, we’re disappointed in the ways and manner a supposed chairman goes on with the business of ensuring that the party is brought back to stability in the state, using propaganda to communicate the business of the party instead of undertaking the true task of reconciling the aggrieved members which is what he was brought in to pursue.

“So far so good, Steve Oruruo has successfully exacerbated the woes of the party and he’s expedient in injuring the party more. He’s ruling the party in the style of sole administration where he acts as chairman, secretary, publicity secretary and more, not allowing anyone else to participate in the process of communication to find the root cause of the discord that befell the party.

“If the national leadership of the party fails to wade into the menacing Oruruo factor in the Ebonyi PDP, it’ll not be in doubt that our party in Ebonyi is headed towards absolute precipice. He should be reminded that propaganda isn’t germane when trying to pursue reconciliation assuming he’s even attempting to reconcile anybody as he has claimed” they stated.