PDP suspends party’s BOT chairperson

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State has suspended the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party, Adolphus Wabara.

Sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the State Working Committee (SEC) of the PDP in the state suspended Mr Wabara for alleged anti-party activities.

The Chairperson of the PDP in Abia State, Abraham Amah, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES when contacted on Tuesday afternoon.

“We have suspended him. I can confirm that,” Mr Amah said.

‘Why we suspended Wabara’

In a statement forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, Mr Amah said Mr Wabara was suspended for endorsing Governor Alex Otti of Abia State for a second term in October 2023, barely five months into his administration.

Mr Otti was elected governor of Abia State under the platform of the Labour Party (LP) during the 2023 general elections.

Inaugurated on 29 May 2023, the governor’s first tenure will elapse by May 2027.

Mr Wabara, a former Senate president of Nigeria, hails from Abia State.

The Abia PDP chairperson said Mr Wabara’s endorsement of Mr Otti, a member of the LP, was “a brazen display of sabotage” against the PDP, stressing that the endorsement was circulated on social media and national dailies.

He said the action of the BOT chairperson brought the party to disrepute, hatred and contempt which is in violation of the provisions of Chapter 10, Article 58(c) and (f) of the PDP Constitution (2017 as amended).

The offence is liable to punishment under Article 59(1) of the party’s constitution, he added.

Details of the suspension

Mr Amah said Mr Wabara was handed a one-month suspension.

He said the PDP chieftain stands barred from the party activities and also removed as BOT chairperson of the party.

The Abia PDP leader said Mr Wabara’s removal from party positions was in line with provisions of Articles 59(1) (e) & (f) of the party’s Constitution (2017 as amended).

He said Mr Wabara “refused, failed and neglected to refute” his endorsement of Mr Otti despite repeated demands and notices of possible sanctions from the PDP.

“Now therefore, let it be known by all party members, stakeholders and the general public, that sequel to the foregoing and consequent upon the far-reaching implications of Senator Adolphus Wabara’s acts of sabotage against the party, the SEC hereby invokes the provisions of Articles 57(1),(2),(3), 58(1)(b) & (f) and 59(1) of the party’s Constitution (2017 as amended) against Senator Adolphus Wabara and hereby places him on one-month suspension from party activities,” he said.

“In line with disciplinary procedures, a Seven man disciplinary Committee will be set up immediately, to investigate Senator Adolphus Wabara’s actions.”

‘We’ve the powers to discipline any member’

Mr Amah argued that the state chapter of the PDP has the powers, according to Articles 58(1) and 59(1) of the PDP Constitution, to discipline any erring member of the party irrespective of the member’s status.

What Wabara told Otti in October 2023

Mr Wabara had praised Governor Otti during his flag-off ceremony for the reconstruction of the Port Harcourt Road, Aba in October 2023.

The project was awarded to Julius Berger, a construction company.

During the flag off ceremony, Mr Wabara, who attended the event, told Vanguard newspaper that Mr Otti, by his performances so far, had already secured his second term in office.

“The governor (Otti) is reliable and a true man of honour. With this feat alone, his second term in office is already well assured. He is a master strategist. He wasn’t a top banker for nothing,” the former senator had said.

As of the time the PDP BOT chairperson made the comment, Governor Otti had spent only six months (about 182 days) in office.

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Wike-Wabara feud?

The latest development appears to be a continuation of the power play between the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike and Mr Wabara.

Messrs Wike and Wabara have been in a face-off over the control of the PDP at the national level.

Both leaders recently engaged in a war of words with Mr Wike saying he would have disowned Mr Wabara if he were his father.

Mr Wabara, on his part, said he would not join issues with the FCT minister.

Mr Wike’s ally, Okezie Ikpeazu, a former governor of Abia State, is in control of the PDP in the South-eastern state.