•They are digging their graves, he replies
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja and Chinelo Obogo
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Caretaker Committee has suspended the chairman of Capital Oil, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah for allegedly carrying out a ‘vitriolic’ attack against the leadership of the party in the aftermath of its governorship primary in Anambra State.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday while briefing journalists on the outcome of a meeting of the National Caretaker Committee.
He said Ubah, who came third in the Anambra PDP governorship primary has been suspended for one month.
Adeyeye said the caretaker committee took the decision after Ubah refused to respond to a query issued to him to explain his actions and apologise to party leaders he allegedly disparaged
The party also queried Senator Kashamu Buruji over alleged anti-party activities but Adeyeye said Buruji had already responded to the query, denying some of the allegations against him.
The party spokesman said the caretaker committee at its meeting yesterday resolved to refer Uba and Buruji to the PDP National Discplinary Committee for further action.
Adeyeye said the disciplinary committee is expected to report back to the caretaker committee in two weeks.
“This week, we had some disciplinary issues regarding the Anambra governorship primaries in which one of the aspirants launched a major attack against the leadership of the party in the media. I am talking of Ifeanyi Ubah who was not satisfied with the decision of the Governorship Appeal Panel and decided to launch a vitrolic attack against the leadership of the party and those who were involved in the conduct of the primary.
“The National Caretaker Committee took a decision to issue him a query, asking him to retract the statement and to offer an apology to those who were disparaged by his remarks in the press.
“The query was issued under the relevant sections of the constitution of the PDP, but he chose not to respond to the query, consequent upon which the National Caretaker Committee decided to suspend him for a period of one month and to refer the matter the National Disciplinary Committee for further necessary action.
“In Senator Buruji Kasha’s case, he was also issued a query by the National Caretaker Committee some weeks ago and he replied the query and denied some of the allegations made against him, basically saying that he is not responsible for some of those things for which he was accused of.
“Consequent upon which the National Caretaker Committee also took a decision to refer his case to the National Disciplinary Committee for further necessary action” Adeyeye said.
Recall that Ubah, had protested the outcome of the PDP governorship primary and alleged that the nomination process was fraught with illegality. He vowed to challenge the outcome of the primary in court.
Responding to his sack on national TV, Ubah said the action of the PDP is an indication that it is digging its own grave by suspending him. He said that after the primary was concluded, he sent text messages to members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) but none of them responded to his complaint. “I laughed when I heard that I have been suspended because as far as I am concerned, the PDP is digging its own grave. I have not benefitted anything from the PDP since I joined the party and I will follow this issue to its conclusion because I am one who loves following due process. I am here to seek justice because the electoral process during the primary was flawed. How can they say that a serving Senator did not have any vote during the primary election? We have only few weeks to the election yet, the PDP cannot put its house in order. I spoke with the chairman of the National Caretaker Committee up until three days ago and he did not mention suspension. If they have suspended me, they should show the world the evidence of what I did” Ubah said.