Anyanwu rejects expulsion from PDP, says convention was a jamboree

Samuel Anyanwu, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), says the party’s convention at the weekend in Ibadan was a “jamboree”. Anyanwu, who was expelled at the convention, reacted onSunday during an interview with Channels Television. During the event, the party also expelled Nyesom Wike,minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Ayo Fayose, formergovernor of Ekiti. Others were Umar Bature, Ajibade Kamarudeen, Mao Ohabunwa,Uwachukuwu George, Turner Dan Orbih, Mohammed Abdulrahman, Austin Nwachukwu,and Abraham Amah. The opposition party also dissolved its structures in Imo,Abia, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers states. Anyanwu said the event was “illegitimate”. “Sixteen states had not even done their congresses; theentire south-east has not done their congress — all that happened yesterday [atthe convention] was a jamboree,” he said. “Even the ones done earlier have not been communicated toINEC. When I heard somebody yesterday at the convention, when they werecelebrating, having their jamboree, saying that we must obey the rules of theparty, I laughed.” He maintained that the absence of several state delegationsfrom the exercise meant the event, which ran from Saturday into early Sunday,fell short of an inclusive convention. The punitive measure followed a motion from Bode George,member of the board of trustees (BoT). “I just told you that I was not expelled. Who expelled me?What platform do they have to expel me? And even beside that, even when theytried to do that, remember when they were forming this, supposedly theydidn’t,” Anyanwu said. “This is a committee headed by Tom Ikimi, which is sayingthat they have been committed to my suspension. It was not today. I went tocourt. It’s a court judgment. It’s a court order.” Until his expulsion, Anyanwu was the suspended nationalsecretary of the party. On Sunday, a new leadership of the party was elected to beheaded by Kabiru Turaki, the former minister of special duties andintergovernmental affairs.

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