…warns that “nobody has the monopoly of violence”
SYDNEY EZENTA
The member representing Udi/Ezeagu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Dennis Oguerinwa Amadi has claimed that armed political thugs were brought in to disrupt the last party stakeholders meetings in many parts of Enugu State.
In Udi where he was reportedly disgraced out of the meeting, Amadi alleged that the gathering was infiltrated by “rented political thugs mostly from 9th Mile axis” adding that he did not allow his followers on that day to react physically so as to avoid mayhem which might arise.
The lawmaker was reacting to a report in People&Politics on his ongoing disagreement with the PDP leadership in the state. The online publication had reported on Friday, his debacle with the party’s stakeholders at the meeting in Udi of Saturday April 9, 2022.
His media aide, Raphael Onyedika Chima, who issued a press statement on his behalf, alleged that “armed political thugs were brought in to disrupt party meeting,” in many parts of Enugu State on that day. He said that the incident at Udi which the publication referred to was “managed carefully to avoid the type of casualties recorded in Aninri, Nsukka and other parts of Enugu State on that same day”.
The statement was specific that the Udi meeting was infiltrated by “rented political thugs mostly from 9th Mile axis” adding that he did not allow his followers on that day to react physically so as to avoid mayhem which might arise.
Though he spent several minutes in the meeting before he walked out, Amadi did not identify anyone who is a thug at the meeting.
In explaning why the legislator walked away after his request to address the gathering was turned down, the statement said he “wouldn’t want to put the lives of our people in danger from issue that arise from non-delegates and Stakeholders of our party.”
Many see the statement as a face-saving attempt to explain his humiliation by his constituents who forced him to leave the stakeholders meeting he had not attended for nearly three years. It is yet the most audacious indictment of his party’s stakeholders in his constituency.
He followed it up with a warning that “nobody has the monopoly of violence.”
Amadi also said the PDP Chairman in Udi local government area has become partisan and should not have chaired such a meeting. It was an obvious reference to Hon. Okechukwu Aneke, the party chairman in the local government area, with whom he has had a running disagreement.
According to him, the meeting in question was “conducted by a partisan Chairman who has thrown himself into the ring as an aspirant to current party primaries.”
He did not cite the section of the party’s constitution and guideline which barred party functionaries from aspiring to elective public offices.
Amadi’s problems with Aneke started late in 2019 as the state commenced preparations for Congresses to elect executives of the PDP at ward and local government levels. Amadi had risen in stout opposition to the State Governor’s decision to return serving party executives in the local government area for another term. Boasting his connections at the party’s national headquarters, he had made a spirited effort to install a parallel executive of the PDP at the local government level as well as all 20 wards in Udi.
That heroic attempt later collapsed as the Governor’s decision which was supported by the party’s State caucus, was upheld by the National Working Committee of the PDP.
It was the major reason he resolved never to attend any such meeting chaired by the present Chairman. He even took it a step further by abstaining entirely from the ward campaigns prior to election into local government Councils earlier this year.
His campaign billboards mounted in strategic areas in his constituency do not carry the PDP emblem, fuelling speculation he may have resolved not to contest for the Senate in 2023 on the party’s platform.
He is believed to have petitioned the PDP national headquarters over the incident.
The 11-paragraph statement which is filled with personal attacks on the Editor-In-Chief of People&Politics, Mr. Sheddy Ozoene, insinuated that he was a hired agent.
One of the items he insists was falsely presented was his attendance at PDP meetings. “The publisher whom we had assumed to be a trained journalist said that the MHR does not attend party ward meetings is a figment of his imagination.” (sic)
The story has, however, been collaborated by several leaders of the party in Amadi’s Affa/Ikono/Oghu ward. In a telephone interview on Sunday, Hon. Theo Enyi told People&Politics that since his reelection in 2019, the National Assembly member has not been attending PDP meetings in the ward. Two ward executives of the party who do not want to be identified, also collaborated the story, expressing their disappointment at Amadi recent outbursts against the party in the state.
Hon. Enyi however acknowledged that Amadi showed up twice in the past four months when it became obvious he was nursing ambition to run for the Senate.
While he debunked the claims that his kinsman Chibuzor Aniekwe introduced him into partisan politics, he stated that neither the former Senior Legislative Aide nor any of Amadi’s key staff were sacked. “They all served their tenure and earned their severance benefits from National Assembly Service Commission after the first four years. For avoidance of doubt, the former SLA, Chibuzo Aniekwe was in service for the second tenure until he was appointed as SSA to the Governor and as such he resigned effectively.”
