The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ebonyi State has rejected claims that its executive committee passed a vote of no confidence on State Chairman Prince Enyinnaya Alum, describing the allegation as a deliberate attempt to destabilise the party ahead of future elections.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by State Publicity Secretary Comr. Okereke Nnanna. The statement came in response to reports circulating online and in certain quarters that senior party officials had moved against their own chairman. These claims, the party said, are without foundation.
The NDC acknowledged that its primary elections on 29th May were not without incident. The chairman of the election committee deployed to Ebonyi State failed to properly recognise the state’s established leadership structure during the exercise, creating early tension.
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The situation worsened when unknown individuals, suspected to be thugs, infiltrated the party secretariat, and two officials (identified as Barr. Adum and Arch. Christian Asaga) were seen taking the election committee chairman away in what the party described as a “gangster-like” manner.
Despite those disruptions, the party insisted the matters were resolved and that primaries were successfully completed across the state.
What the NDC takes particular issue with is what happened the following day. A gathering, which some participants are now describing as a formal vote of no confidence, was, according to the party, convened under false pretences.
Several executive committee members chose not to attend once they realised what was actually being planned. Those who did show up, the statement suggests, believed they were simply meeting to be briefed on the outcome of the primaries not to sanction the chairman.
The party has been direct in naming who it believes is behind the move. It alleges the few executive members who endorsed the no-confidence claim are the same individuals suspected of involvement in the attempted abduction of the elections committee team.
The statement further alleged that these men accepted money from certain primary election aspirants, promising results they ultimately could not deliver. When those aspirants lost, the party says, attention shifted to undermining the chairman’s reputation instead.
“Their actions and utterances strongly suggest that they are being sponsored or influenced by opposition elements whose objective is to disrupt the smooth administration and growing strength of the NDC in Ebonyi State,” the statement read.
It is a serious allegation, one that pictures an internal party squabble as something more calculated and externally funded. Whether this is true of the party will depend largely on what emerges in the coming days, particularly regarding the alleged abduction attempt and the money claims, neither of which have been independently verified.
The NDC in Ebonyi State is projecting calm. The party noted that it remains united and has urged members and the public to disregard false narrative spread by “mischief makers and enemies of the party.”
