Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki
Ripples have continued to trail the accusation levelled against the Secretary to the Government of the federation, Anyim Pius Anyim by Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Martin Elechi that Anyim was undermining President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in the state and equally masterminding Elechi’s impeachment.
In a press conference, Ebonyi PDP Elders Council, made up of major stakeholders and the political class from the 13 Council areas of the state condemned the governor’s attack on the SGF, who had never interfered with the local politics in the state.
The council berated Elechi for attacking a worthy son of the state, who had distinguished himself as a worthy compatriot in the service of his father land, more also, as he had busied himself on the re-election bid of the President.
The council noted that it was genuinely troubled by the careless manner in which Elechi had launched verbal attacks on some of their most distinguished sons and national leaders like Anyim and former INEC Commissioner and Ministerial nominee, Fidelis Nwankwo among others.
They cautioned the Governor to desist from statements capable of maligning, tarnishing or defaming law-abiding citizens whose interest he was elected to serve.
The chairman of the council and Deputy Director of Goodluck/ Sambo 2015 project in the state, Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu described the attack on Anyim as “unfortunate” since it is coming from his home state that should have given him the assistance and support to strive on his national assignment.
According to him “members of the Elders Council of PDP have watched with dismay, concern and sense of bewilderment as violent language, arson, abuse and bitter politics of personal attacks have taken hold in the affairs of the state.
“This Council of Elders is genuinely troubled by the careless manner in which the governor of Ebonyi State has launched vicious verbal attacks on some of our most distinguished sons and national leaders such as SGF, Senator Anyim Pius; Mr Fidelis Nwankwo, a former INEC Commissioner and ministerial nominee”, he lamented.
Ogbuewu noted that if the governor was properly advised, he ought to have made a clean break and joined the Labour Party, as his “manipulative claim” to remain in the PDP while the entire structures of his government and all the “expenditure of the government go to the Labour Party” were totally unacceptable to the council and generality of the people.
The Director, who spoke on the backdrop of Elechi’s allegation that he hijacked the money approved for Jonathan’s rally in the state on
February, said the governor wanted to corner the money to support the opposition Labour Party but they refused and since then the governor had been looking for way to discredit them.
He noted that Elechi was not a threat to PDP victory in the state because he was standing alone in the battle but the only thing they were asking him was to stop using the state’s resources to sponsor the Labour Party, not that they were afraid.
The council noted that it does not make any logical sense for the governor to claim to be supporting the re-election bid of the
President while at the same time doing “absolutely nothing” in practical terms to actualize that ambition.
Harping on the alleged plot of the Labour Party to scuttle the scheduled visit of the wife of the President, Dame Jonathan on
Saturday, the council noted “we don’t know why they were protesting.
Whether they were protesting for the governor’s impeachment plot or the fire incident that gutted the state house of assembly, which is
highly unfortunate and condemnable or whether they were protesting against the coming of the First Lady”.
They reiterated their commitment to ensuring that Jonathan wins overwhelmingly in the presidential election in the state, as the
membership of the council are prominent politicians and opinion leaders from all the parts of the state, who would rally their teeming
supporters to vote for Jonathan.
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