Go to court if you don’t like my actions — Obuah

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013  

Rivers State Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Felix Obuah

The Rivers State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Felix Obuah,  tells CHUKWUDI AKASIKE, about the crisis rocking the state and the reasons for the recent expulsion of some members of the party

You recently announced the expulsion of 14 commissioners and four others loyal to the governor. What led to that?

They were expelled because they showed disrespect for the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party through their anti-party activities. They failed to appear before the Assessment and Evaluation Committee constituted to look at the performance of elected and appointed members of the party, to see how far they have gone in rendering service to the people. It is also part of our campaign to tell the people how PDP government has fared. To appreciate those that have done well and caution any of them that has not done well. We are doing this before we come out again to beg people to vote for the party.

There is need for us to have assessment. Take a look at what President Goodluck Jonathan did. He gave the score card of his two years in office to show Nigerians  how far he had gone. We elected these people and we are paying our taxes. So, it is necessary to know how well they (public office holders in PDP) have fared. Those who have done well, we will celebrate and appreciate them and for those who have not done well, we will caution and advise. But those that were expelled failed to appear. They did not respond to the invitation. Before this time, I said these people were out to destroy the PDP. While their mind and spirit are somewhere else, it is only their faces they show to give the impression that they are working for the PDP.

But those affected by the expulsion are saying that the state PDP has no right to expel them, hence the expulsion is null and void.

If they are saying that I have no right to expel them, they should go to court. We will meet there. The party constitution is very clear on this. The commissioners are not delegates to the national convention. They should refer to the constitution and tell me where commissioners are automatic delegates. They should read the party constitution very well. I am the leader of this party and the constitution is part and parcel of me. I take actions based on the rules; I don’t go against the rules. Anybody who feels that whatever action I have taken is contrary to the constitution of the party should go to court and challenge it or he can go to the National Working Committee for interpretation. The commissioners are not automatic delegates and none of them has even won as delegates in their respective local government areas where we have one delegate each. The Chief of Staff, Government House, Tony Okocha, is not a delegate. So, all of them have been saying that they were expelled because of the convention. None of those people expelled was supposed to be or even authorised by the party constitution to be a delegate, unless they go to their different areas to contest to be delegates.

Are you saying that the expulsion was not about the national convention?

If it were to be about the convention, I could have suspended maybe the Assembly members, who are automatic delegates, or the senators and the local government chairmen. Check the constitution, those of them who are delegates, I never tampered with them.

But many believe that the expulsion was targetted at Governor Amaechi’s loyalists. How true is this?

When we talk of Governor Amaechi’s loyalists; who are Felix Obuah’s loyalists? They are all my children. So, if a person is supporting someone, who is not respectful to the party and the National Working Committee suspends the person, why would anyone show solidarity with such a person? As a matter of fact, let me put it on record; any of those elected members of the National Assembly who fails to appear at the PDP national convention will be disciplined. They are supporting illegality; they are supporting indiscipline; they are not respectful to the decisions of the National Working Committee. Before now, you know, some governors were suspended and later called back to the party, but in the case of Amaechi, he went to court and the case is still in the court. Yet some people are saying they will boycott the convention in solidarity with our governor, who was suspended because of his indiscipline; because of his anti-party activities. Anybody who says he is supporting somebody who has done wrong is an accomplice. Without any genuine reason, any of the National Assembly members or the chairmen of local governments, who fails to partake in the party’s organised functions, will be given the appropriate punishment.

Would it be correct to say some of the actions you have taken as the state chairman of the party is being influenced by President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife?

President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife have no hand in the politics of Rivers State. He (Jonathan) is leading the entire country. Rivers State is too small for him to condescend and interfere in the politics of the state. Was President Jonathan the person who told me to go to court to claim my mandate? Our working President, never had any hand in the Rivers State crisis. The Rivers State crisis was caused by Governor Rotimi Amaechi and his cohorts and is being amplified by Okocha. Some of the suspended House of Assembly members, who feel that they are getting money now that there is crisis, are fuelling the crisis more and more.  I wrote to the governor on more than four occasions for a courtesy visit, they blocked it because they know that we will talk and I will be able to advise him. They blocked it because they are enjoying and benefitting from the crisis.

Why are you taking these actions, even when your position as the state chairman of the PDP is being contested in court?

 For now, I am the authentic chairman of the PDP in Rivers State until any higher court rules otherwise. Olusegun Mimiko is the governor of Ondo State and just yesterday (Thursday), the Supreme Court affirmed him as the governor of that state. Does it mean that he will not take actions as a governor because somebody went to court to challenge his election? As a matter of fact, it is the court that brought Amaechi in as governor and people went to court to challenge him and the matter is still in court, is it possible to say that Amaechi should not take actions as a governor because people went to court? The people who refused to respect the court order should be called to order because they are the ones causing trouble. Beneficiaries of the judiciary are today disrespecting the order of the court; the same court through which they came to power. That is absolute madness; they are causing trouble and at the appropriate time, they will pay dearly for it.

Do you think that the PDP can win elections in the state with the suspension and expulsion of influential members from the party?

What makes them influential? Commissioners are appointed by the governor. How many of them have gone back to their homes to impact on the society? How many of the commissioners can go to their wards and say this is what they have done? None of them has ever impacted on the society. They are busy travelling abroad, buying property. How many of the Assembly members that have been suspended can go to their wards and make a noise. We are grass-roots people. Let Amaechi get prepared and join his Voice of the People or All Progreessives Congress. Whatever party he joins, Rivers State remains a PDP-controlled state and nobody, no party will take it away from us because the grass roots are with us. Though, we don’t have money, the truth is that this is no longer the time to you use money to cajole people. This is the period the people are yearning for change.

How do you react to reports that Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, orchestrated the crisis in the state?

Wike is a God-sent; he is a reformer and a man who believes that the resources of the people must be used judiciously. Wike does not believe in self-centredness, but believes in development. He is a man of the people. Wike is a man, who believes in the truth; who could not be cajoled. He is currently one of the best ministers. He was the man who toured the 23 local government areas of the state campaigning for the present governor of the state. That time, he was not a bad man. Today, because he stood for the truth, they now say he is fomenting trouble. Is it Wike that asked Amaechi and his co-travellers not to accept the High Court judgment? Is it Wike that went to the House of Assembly and created the mayhem there?