No Cracks, Factions In Imo PDP

The Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday said there is no faction within its fold, insisting that Hon Austin Nwachukwu remains the chairman.

The state publicity secretary, Lancelot Obiaku, said this during a press conference alongside other officials at the party secretariat in Owerri, the state capital.

This is even as they stressed that the leader of the PDP in the state was the national secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, saying the position has been affirmed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and during the party’s stakeholders meeting in Abuja.

The state secretary, Hon Jerry Oguoke, said the party was ready to play its role as lead opposition party and hold the government accountable to the people.

Obiaku dispelled insinuations that there was another faction saying there was none and that there was no vacancy in the leadership structures.

“We wish to vehemently emphasize that there were no parallel congresses at any level, and to date, these congresses remain unchallenged in any court of competent jurisdiction.

“The Imo State Chapter of the PDP is indisputably led by Hon. Austin Nwachukwu as the State Chairman, and there is only one State Working Committee (SWC) of the party. There are no factions in Imo State PDP”.

Further, the party said the All Progressive Congress government led by Governor Hope Uzodimma was yet to implement the payment of the minimum wage as senior civil servants were yet to receive salary increase.

Obiaku said “today, Imo is not actually paying the N70,000 minimum wage. As a party, we have in recent times held the informed position that the Imo State Government had yet to implement the old N30,000 minimum wage, given that level 10 and 12 workers in various ministries barely earn around N50,000 monthly. Today, what we have is a situation where a senior worker earns almost the same as a junior worker.

“If a level 5 worker earns N71,000 and a level 12 worker earns N73,000, will you call that payment of minimum wage? Where did the tens of thousands that should accrue to the level 12 worker go? Do you know the irony? Workers who are at level 5 and below do not constitute up to 10 percent of the workforce.”

“The government payrolled workers from Government House. The labour union and various ministries had no input. No one has seen the salary table with which the government is paying salaries. It’s a fraudulent scheme”.

The party said the Uzodimma administration had failed, as the past five years had been characterised by terror, bloodshed, corruption, and waste.

“The last five years of the present regime have been marred by terror, bloodshed, corruption, and waste. The failure to secure the lives and property of Imo people is already well documented”, he said.

Further, he lamented that under Uzodimma, the education sector had collapsed while road construction awards had been announced and funds embezzled.

The party said “Sadly, in the 21st century under a world economy driven by science and technology, the few Imo public schools still standing cannot boast of libraries, laboratories, and computer labs. To crown it all, last year, Imo pupils and students gained admission into junior and senior secondary schools without crucial examinations, including the common entrance, the First School Leaving Certificate Examination and the Junior West Africa Examination Certificate (WAEC), because the State Government failed to conduct them. This represents a total collapse of the education sector”.

Further, the party said the road construction of World bank-Umuguma and Nekede-Ihiagwa roads recently awarded, the same roads had been awarded and even commissioned in the past.

“On road infrastructure, we note with grief the fact that the state government has prioritised playing to the gallery and fraudulently embezzling public funds. For example, the State Government announced just yesterday that it has awarded the World Bank – Umuguma and the Nekede-Iheanwa roads in Owerri for construction. These are roads awarded in 2020 by the same government for tens of billions without anything tangible happening on the roads. This is the height of theft and sleaze. Today, Imo rural roads are the worst in Southern Nigeria”.

The PDP called on Uzodimma to wake up to his responsibilities or resign saying “Uzodimma must wake up or resign, having been a disaster and failed woefully as Governor and leader of the State. As the main opposition party in the State, our pledge to Imo people is that we will not relent in delivering a robust opposition”.