The newly appointed caretaker committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, has said one of its objectives is to weed out negative elements, who are trying to bring the party down in the state.
A Rivers State High Court presided over by Justice Stephen Jumbo had last Wednesday sacked the Hon. Aaron Chukwuemeka-led state executives of the PDP and nullified the ward, local government and state congresses of the party conducted in July 2024.
The development led to the appointment of former Rivers West senatorial district vice chairman of the party, Dr. Nname Ewor, as head of a caretaker committee to run the party’s affairs in the state.
Speaking in a live radio programme monitored in Port Harcourt, a member of the PDP caretaker committee and former publicity secretary of the party, Hon. Sydney Gbara, disclosed that a disciplinary committee is being constituted to handle issues of indiscipline in the party.
Gbara said: “The PDP has decayed to the worst level as it is today in Rivers State and the entire Nigerians know that Rivers State is a PDP state. This is the reason why we don’t want to leave any stone unturned and that is the reason why we don’t want to wait for any minute before we hit the ground running.
“We are trying to sanitize the party to ensure that we weed out all the negative elements trying to bring the party down in Rivers State. This is the reason why a disciplinary committee is been instituted to look into the activities of some members of the PDP in Rivers State, no matter your status, no matter how highly placed you are.
“We are also going to go on a reconciliatory move to those who are still interested in promoting the cause of PDP in Rivers State. We are going to extend our olive branch and bring them in. We are going to embark on aggressive membership drive across the 23 LGAs in the state.”
Gbara, who is also the Rivers State Commissioner for Environment, insisted that the Chukwuemeka-led PDP state executive has been served a copy of the court judgement sacking them.
He said: “Dr. Kenneth Wiyoka has justified their actions in occupying the state secretariat, alleging that a copy of the judgement has not been served on them, as if the judgement is a secret announcement.
“The judgement as served by a court of competent jurisdiction, the whole world has read it; all the national televisions, national newspapers, it is everywhere.
“What must law abiding citizens do in a situation like this? Is it to hire thugs to go and occupy the facility and bring the police to give them back-up? We beat them to their game; that is the truth because we don’t want a crisis in Rivers Stat?” he said.
