Lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the South-East have warned that they may boycott the party’s forthcoming national convention if the position of National Woman Leader is taken away from the zone.
The PDP convention is scheduled to hold on November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, Oyo State.
But tensions are rising within the party as the South-East caucus in the House of Representatives insists that the woman leader position must remain in the region.
Spokesperson of the South-East PDP caucus in the House, Rep. Ikenga-Imo Ugochinyere, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
He said the lawmakers will issue a formal disclaimer against the Ibadan convention if they confirm that the position has been zoned outside the South-East.
According to Ugochinyere, the lawmakers are ready to defend the political rights of the region, stressing that any move to strip the South-East of the woman leader position would amount to a deliberate insult.
He said, “We don’t want to see PDP suffer more setbacks; still, we will stick to our position at the Ibadan convention if, in the next few weeks, what we are hearing is confirmed.”
The lawmaker warned that no elected representative from the South-East will remain in the PDP if such an arrangement is allowed to stand. He added that there is still time for the party leadership to correct the injustice before the screening of aspirants begins.
Ugochinyere explained that the earlier zoning arrangement, which allowed Enugu State to produce the woman leader, no longer holds following the defection of Governor Peter Mbah to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said the defection also affected Mbah’s nominee for the woman leader position, who has now joined the APC.
The PDP Spokesman accused certain elements within the party of plotting to shift the position to the South-South, warning that such a move would provoke anger across the South-East.
“However, confirmed information is filtering in that some people are trying to move that woman leader position out of the South-East to the South-South,” he said.
The South-East caucus appealed to PDP leaders in the South, including Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, to intervene and ensure the position remains in the region.
Ugochinyere described any attempt to take the position away as “an insult” to the South-East and a move that could further divide the party.
Moreover, He cautioned that a boycott by South-East lawmakers could worsen the internal crisis already rocking the PDP and alienate members from participating in the Ibadan convention.
The article was originally published on Politics Nigeria.
