PPA Rejects Disbanding of Groups

The national secretariat of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) has overruled the Abia State Working Committee (SWC) of the party which disbanded all political groups campaigning for a second term for the incumbent governor, Chief Theodore Orji, saying the party would not muzzle the freedom of its members.
Chairman of Abia PPA, Ezeogo Emeka Onuoha, who also heads the state SWC of the party was recently quoted by the media as having ordered all political groups in the party working to draft the governor into the 2011 governorship race to disband and collapse into the party and its mother structure, the Reality Organisation.
He was quoted as saying that the groups were not registered and would distract the governor from carrying on with his onerous assignment of delivering democracy dividends to Abians since he still has two years to the end of his current mandate.
The move generated tension and discord in the Abia PPA. Though, many party faithfuls were against the move, they did not muster the courage to speak out, except the Chairman of Isiala Ngwa South, Chief Anthony Agbazuere, who at a press briefing, described the action of the SWC as unconstitutional and unimplementable.
The party has come out fully to disown the action, saying it was commited to upholding freedom of speech and freedom of association of its members.
In a four-paragraph statement endorsed by the National PPA chairman, Chief Clement Ebri, and made available to The Tide in Umuahia, PPA maintained that all members of the party were free to canvass support for candidates of their choice for all elective offices in the run up to 2011.
Part of the statement read: “Following recent media reports credited to the Abia State chairman of our great party, Chief Emeka Onuoha, which purportedly banned some certain political groups in the state from canvassing support for candidates seeking elective offices come 2011, the leadership of the party after due consultation with all stakeholders will like to reassure all members of our great party of its unalloyed commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of association, both of which constitute the bedrock of democratic practice.
“Accordingly, all members of our party and even those who are on the verge of joining our great party are free to drum up support for candidates of their choice for all elective offices in the count down to 2011 general elections without let or hindrance, provided that in doing so, they do not in any way breach the party’s constitution and its code of ethics and declared principles and values.”
“We further enjoin all members to eschew bitterness and rancour and to respect the rights and freedoms of fellow members and of Nigerians in general. PPA must take the lead in promoting a new political culture of tolerance, harmony and sportsmanship in future political contests so as to attract wider participation and even wider electoral success in the country,” Ebri added.
The PPA national chairman expressed hope that the clarification would lay the controversy stirred by the action of the Abia SWC to rest and soothe all frayed nerves.