Igbo Corner
Obi, Ekweremadu, Abaribe, et al: How PDP composed its obituary in South East ~ by Law Mefor
The crisis and haemorrhage rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South East in particular and across the nation, did not come to many as a surprise.
There is nothing happening to the party in that region that I did not predict in my tribute to former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on his 60th birthday earlier this month of May.
It wasn’t even difficult to predict either. The PDP lost its soul long ago and behaves like a man destined for doom, who arrogantly takes the wrong step at every corner and arrogates to himself the power of invincibility while walking to his own damnation.
The author, Law Mefor
In that piece, I highlighted how the PDP was consistently trumping its own constitution, guidelines, and relevant laws of the country in its determined bid to undo not only the South East presidential aspiration, but also to undermine, embarrass, and edge out some of its notable leaders, who had shown unmatched loyalty to the party in its most trying times.
Consequently, I warned against the way PDP’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, had wilfully mortgaged the party to the demi-gods called governors and how he was aiding and abetting the irresponsibility and pervasion of democracy and PDP’s constitution and guidelines in the processes leading up to the PDP primaries.
I expressed particular displeasure at how Ayu was overseeing a clearly rigged three-man ad-hoc delegates election at the wards, which compilation had no semblance of democracy.
In most cases, such as in the case of Enugu State which was reportedly compiled in a hotel adjacent the Government House, people just sat somewhere and compiled names.
I forewarned PDP this way:
“Lastly, let it be on record: the PDP national leadership encouraging irresponsibility and irrationality going on in Enugu State and the South East is taking too much for granted.
“That you have thrown the presidential race open has already left the people of the South-East deeply hurt.
“Any attempt to manipulate the governorship ticket to an unpopular candidate anointed by any governor in the South East amounts to taking too much for granted. And as one has often warned on matters like this, there will be consequences and by then, it will be too late”.
But did Ayu-led National Working Committee of the party pay any heed? Did the greedy power mongers called PDP governors pay any heed? No! What of the PDP elders?
There is virtually none left unmuzzled by interests and patronage. When you’re at the dinning table, you must observe table manners.
Consequently, in the absence of statutory delegates due to the non-signing of the Electoral Act amendment, the governors weaponised the fraudulent delegates lists at the kangaroo primaries to impose their lackeys, yes-men, and accomplices on the party in the House of Assembly, National Assembly, and Governorship primary elections.
They are also poised to repeat the same in the presidential primary.
In Anambra, to underline the fact that the Igbo have never been in PDP’s equation going into the 2023 presidential race, Ayu and his puppeteers ensured that the leading aspirant from South-East and about the most popular aspirant in PDP nationally, Peter Obi, was schemed out of the National Delegates from his state. The entire 21 National Delegates from the 21 local governments of Anambra were fraudulently handed over to someone that would execute the bidding of PDP’s dollar-blinded masters against the aspirations of the South-East region.
In Enugu State, Ekweremadu, who literally took bullets for the PDP after the 2015 election even when he had everything to gain by defecting, was thoroughly mistreated. As a principled politician and man of conscience, Ekweremadu must have reckoned after his reemergence that as the only PDP political office holder at the federal level after the 2015 tsunami, he was the beacon of hope for the party faithful.
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu left the country as Chairman of the PDP immediately after the 2015 election before he eventually defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) alongside former governor Mallam Isah Yuguda; former Secretary to Federal Government, Yayale Ahmed; and former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Senator Babayo Gamawa in January 2019. Countless others who benefitted so much from PDP’s 16-year rule dumped the party and fled. Some PDP governors, including governor of Ekweremadu’s home state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, disappeared from the scene – never attending PDP functions, never attending National Executive Committee meetings, never seen at PDP Governors Forum’s meetings, and never speaking up in defence of the party, masses or democracy. Some governors eventually defected. But Ekweremadu stood strong.
When some PDP governors like Nyesom Wike and Ayo Fayose imposed Ali Modu Sheriff as Muazu’s successor against all voices of reason in the party, including that of Ekweremadu, it was still this same Ekweremadu that joined forces with the likes of Senator Ahmed Maikarfi, etc. to rescue the party from Sheriff’s stranglehold.
Yet, once he declared his gubernatorial ambition, which he hinged on his belief that the best route to revival and development is to get the states working again, the gang up and hell were let loose on him by his governor and Wadata Plaza. Apart from attacks on his supporters, media reports were rife about how no single result sheet was seen in a y of the 260 wards during the ward congress and how the panel from Wadata plaza accepted a fraudulent list of delegates compiled days before the real exercise, while jettisoning the outcomes of the real exercise conducted at the designated venues. The three-man delegates list is now a subject of three litigations and Zamfara tsunami appears imminent.
In Abia, the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who has stood up to be counted when it mattered for the PDP, was mistreated too. He has been a fearless thorn in the flesh of the ruling party. He has been vocal and helped to galvanise the opposition. Yet the party he sacrificed so much for refused to recognise his efforts.
In manipulating Abaribe and Ekweremadu out of contention in the PDP Abia and Enugu gubernatorial primaries, zoning was trumpeted. But why should you jettison zoning the centre and uphold it in states? Is that not approbating and reprobating at the same time?
In the case of Enugu, there were lucid arguments including a 2018 interview by ex-governor Sullivan Chime stating emphatically that there was no zoning in Enugu. In any case, why not provide a level playing field and let the people decide?
The Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, has functioned so well as an opposition in parliament. He has shone like a million stars in projecting and protecting the PDP and masses interest in and outside parliament. He has fought for democracy, including the Electoral Act where he brilliantly ensured the stalemate that stalled the efforts to throw away the electronic transmission of results on that fateful 15th July 2021. That gave a leeway, which the Senate’s decision was overturned.
But today, the same party has connived with Governor Ugwuanyi to treat him like a nobody. From televised heavy shootings that lasted for hours at the Awgu venue of the Aninri/Awgu/Oji River Federal Constituency primary, to harassment and intimidation of his honourable person by thugs and agents of the state government, to the flawed and fraudulent delegates identification process that created way for the impersonation and flooding of the hall with unknown delegates, and to the outright rigging by imposing an already prepared result, the PDP did everything to ensure that he was humiliated. In backing out of the primary, he described the process as a comedy of errors.
As I write, another major presidential hopeful from South East, Senator Pius Anyim, has issued a statement complaining about PDP’s hide and seek game with Ebonyi delegates list.
I had earlier warned the PDP that when people have shown this level of fidelity to the party or grown to a certain level, the least you could do for them, is to ensure that the process is transparent so they can fail or succeed fairly. Yet, Ayu sold out to the governors to the extent that the likes of Obi, Ekweremadu, and Abaribe pulled out from the presidential and gubernatorial primaries. But Ayu and his puppeteers, the governors, forgot that whereas they could hijack the primaries and impose their minions, they would not be able to hijack the general election where the masses will speak loudly.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time the PDP is mistreating Ndigbo or those who had showed fidelity. After all, Chief Alex Ekwueme, who co-founded the PDP was thrown under the bus at PDP Jos 1999 convention. But to think that 23 years from that Jos convention, PDP will still mistreat a region that has given its all to the party since 1998 and held the bastion of opposition post 2015 as well as mistreat the likes of Obi, Abaribe, Ekweremadu etc. the same way it mistreated Ekwueme, sends cold shivers.
But the good thing is that Ndigbo are no longer taking it lying low. The result is the current profuse bleeding of the party in the region. Not only are bigwigs like Obi, Ekweremadu, Abaribe, etc. left or on their way out, the party has virtually lost whatever sentiments it enjoys in that region.
Instructively, I warned the PDP sometime in last year, that the Igbo wouldn’t blink an eye voting the APC or any other party for that matter if the injustice they were already cooking at the time was eventually served on Ndigbo. Therefore, I believe that the quite justifiable mass resignation by South-East PDP big wigs from the party are just a foretaste of things to come. It is a prelude to PDP’s Nunc Dimittis in the South-East, albeit one composed by the party itself. It is now too late to salvage the dying horse that is already flying its last kicks.
Dr. Mefor is a Senior Fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought and writes from drlawmefor@gmail.com.
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There’s something about persecution that does two things to a people: it either breaks them, or it makes them beasts of survival.
For centuries the Jews… they were hunted, hated, and humiliated by empires. But they didn’t vanish.
They evolved. They adapted. And today, the Jews are arguably the most powerful tribe in the world economically, intellectually, and politically. Ruthless when necessary.
They are unapologetic about their survival. Now, look at the Igbo. A tribe known for industry, resilience, and brilliance.
A people who just want to live, do business, and thrive. But Nigeria doesn’t want that. Nigeria wants control.
Nigeria wants submission. And the one thing the Igbo have never known how to do is bow. And that’s the real issue.
So what does Nigeria do? It sidelines them. Isolates them. Provokes them. Bombs their villages under the guise of security.
Locks up their agitators. Shuts down their businesses. Mocks their pain. Ignores their history. Prevent them from voting. Play politics with their education. Sponsored bigotry on them.
And then Nigeria pretends to be surprised that there’s growing radicalization in the East?
Let me be clear: The Igbo didn’t start this fire. Nigeria did.
And history, the very same history we keep refusing to learn from, has shown us that when you keep pushing a tribe that knows how to survive, they evolve into something stronger, something unstoppable.
It’s happened before. With the Jews. Europe tried to exterminate them. Instead, they became the backbone of global finance, media, tech, and diplomacy.
You don’t touch a Jew today without consequences. You don’t push them to the wall and expect them to stay quiet.
Now Nigeria is doing the same to the Igbo, pushing, prodding, provoking.
But here’s the warning: when you push an animal to the wall, it doesn’t stay calm. It fights back. It bites. And this time, when it bites, don’t act shocked.
But this isn’t just about the Igbo solely. Nigeria has perfected the art of creating monsters, then acting surprised when they bite.
The Niger Delta? Radicalized. The region was exploited for oil, polluted beyond repair, and ignored until their youths picked up arms.
The Fulani terrorists? Radicalized. Left behind by the same government that claimed to represent them, now manipulated by religion and resentment.
The Almajiri? Radicalized. Abandoned by an elite that used their poverty as a vote bank and then left them to rot.
The Agbero? Radicalized. Uneducated, weaponized, and unleashed as tools of political chaos.
Even the middle class is slowly being radicalized, not with guns, but with hopelessness. That, too, is a ticking time bomb.
A nation cannot continue to marginalize its most brilliant tribe and expect peace.
The Igbo are not docile. They are not quiet. They are not forgetful. They are survivors, and survivors don’t beg for space forever. At some point, they take it.
The Igbo didn’t set out to be radicals. They were made into one by a country that won’t stop seeing their confidence as a threat.
You can’t keep pretending unity means silence. You can’t keep preaching peace while planting injustice.
The Igbo are not asking for too much, they just want to live, build, and grow.
But if you insist on turning their dignity into defiance, their enterprise into enmity, and their survival into sedition, then you are creating a monster.
And if history has taught us anything, it’s this: when a persecuted people decide that survival is no longer enough, when they decide to stop running and start resisting, they don’t just fight back. They win.
Nigeria must understand this: you cannot keep pushing people into a corner and expect submission.
When you back a lion into a wall, don’t expect it to purr. It will roar. It will claw. It will tear through anything standing between it and freedom.
So here’s the final warning, for those who still care to listen: Nigeria is radicalizing the Igbo.
But worse, Nigeria is radicalizing everyone. And it won’t end well.
When the fire spreads, when the rebellion multiplies, when the beast we created begins to fight back, don’t act shocked; no tribe will be left untouched.
Don’t pretend it wasn’t preventable. We all made it happen. You don’t corner a lion and expect peace.
Abolaji Rasaq is a public affairs analyst.
Palpable crisis is brewing in Nnewi over the election of the President General of Uruagu Community in the industrial town of Anambra State, with a business mogul and owner of Organiser Plc., Chief Innocent Okoli, accused of upsetting the apple cart.
The crisis has led to protests and resignation of members of the Board of Trustees (BoT).
One of the resignation letters sighted by News Band was from a legal practitioner, J. N. Obi, Esq.
Barrister Obi, until his resignation served as the Secretary of the Executive Committee and member, Uruagu Board of Trustees.
Tendering his resignation letter, Obi cited brazen violation of the Constitution of Uruagu Nnewi Community Development Union.
The letter was referenced OB/03 /296/2025, dated May 8, 2025, and addressed to His Highness. Obi A. C. Obi (Ogidi IV).
In the letter entitled “Letter of resignation as member, Board of Trustees (B.O. T) Uruagu Nnewi. Obi announced his resignation based on the following reasons:
- Article 8. 9 (a) of the Constitution of Uruagu Nnewi Community Development Union. 2022 (As Amended) states and I quote:
“The Board shall “Ensure the observance of this Constitution”. - Article 14.4 of the Constitution of Uruagu Nnewi Community Development Union 2022 (As Amended) states and I quote:
“Each ward shall submit a list of the Electors In writing to the Secretary General of the Union, one month before any election.
“The submission of the list of the Electors shall be done by the Ward Chairman In consultation with the Ward’s Obi.” - “The election sought to be conducted on Saturday, 10th day of May 2025, did not comply with the above provisious as it was on the Union’s general meeting of the I3th day of April 2025 that the expiration of the tenure of the Executives was announced.”
The legal pratictioner, however, noted that the election to be held on May 10 will not be up to one month.
He, therefore, resigned his membership of B. 0. T for failure to abide by the above provisions of the Constitution as stated above.
On his part, the former President General of Uruagu Nnewi, Chief Ambassador Charles Nwonye, decried series of illegalities in the proposed election championed by Chief Okoli.
He recalled the efforts of past and present stakeholders to ensure that Uruagu Nnewi Community Development Union is recognised as a legal and responsible entity in the state.
He, however, speaking in a voice note obtained by Diaspora Digital Media (DDM), regretted:
“It’s very, very unfortunate that those counsels that instituted Uruagu Development Union are no longer alive.
“They were the ones who were known for speaking out the truth. But at the same time, we will not all keep quiet.
“I, hereby, wish to bring the following to the attention of all Uruagu indigenes, scattered all over Nigeria and in the diaspora that four years ago, a similar thing happened.
“Uruagu Nnewi Constitution was also flagrantly violated four years ago.
“At the end, a lot of stakeholders asked the former Executive Committee to resign and leave en masse.
“The Constitution, however, allowed them to recontest.
“The Executive Committee then honourably resigned and no one of us recontested, ushering in a new Executive Committee.
“They argued that following the election, the Constitution will be amended to correct all the flaws and ensure no such flagrant abused repeats itself.
“They went for the election and what happened there was the same illegality we’re talking about.
“Some of our youths went and connived with mischief makers, disrupted the election and declared the present Executive Committee members winners.
“The youths stood by them in their misguided thoughts that the Executive Committee members enjoy special gains in the office.
“They disrupted the election and ensured that the present crop of Executive Committee members was ushered in.
“The election was heavily flawed and rigged in favour of Eloka Ike and Innocent Okoli, but we let go and left peacefully.
“The new Executive Committee promised to preside for only four years and leave, but we are currently seeing the same illegalities.
“I dare ask: Should Uruagu be known only for illegalities? I thought Ndi Uruagu are smart people?
“I have observed that there are certain individuals who are hell-bent on ensuring that the Uruagu leadership fails.
“They seem bent on destroying all our efforts, acting as agents of chaos and destruction.
“How can one man gather a bunch of Umuezeagu indigenes and take them to the court, claiming that they sued the union to court?
“They deceived the High Court and got a frivolous injunction against Uruagu people, all in the name of election!
“When I got this information, I knew that something was wrong.
“How can someone, after serving a tenure fraught with irregularities, fight his way to a second tenure against the people’s wish?
“I want to make it clear to all the delegates in the so-called election that it will not be possible to make an illegality legal.
“Anyone who casts a vote in that sham election is an agent provocateur, as well as a villain.
“Let it be on record that I denounced the so-called election founded on illegality and fraud and all participants, be it a delegate or participant in any manner is an enemy of the people.”
Chief Okoli and other responsible people of Nnewi leadership could not be reached for comment at the moment of this publication.
More details will follow…
The remains of HRH Eze Stephen Nwabueze Ugorji, Orji Ukwu 1 of Lorji Nwekeukwu Autonomous Community in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area, will be laid to rest on Thursday, May 22, 2025.
The late Eze Ugorji will be buried in his palace at Orji Ukwu Estate, Lorji, following a Catholic funeral Mass at St. Andrews Catholic Church, Lorji.
News Band was informed that His Excellency the Catholic Bishop of Ahiara Diocese, Bishop Okezuo Nwobi, has been invited to officiate at the ceremony.
Bishop Nwobi, it was learnt, has also accepted the family’s invitation to officiate at the funeral rites of the late grand traditional ruler.
This information was provided to members of the press in Owerri by the Opara Eze (First Son of the Eze), former Commissioner for Homeland Security and Vigilante Affairs, Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji.
His Lordship Bishop Okezuo Nwobi, the Catholic Bishop of Ahiara Diocese (Mbaise) and Eze Nwabueze Ugorji’s First Son, Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji
“The family is grateful to His Lordship for granting us a rare request to officiate at a funeral on a Thursday,” Dr. Ugorji said.
“Our father will feel honored and appreciated because he was not just a devoted Catholic, he shouldered the building of the St. Andrews Catholic Church at Lorji until his death,” the former commissioner added.
Igbo Corner
EXCLUSIVE: Ngozi Orabueze dissolves Biafra Govt In Exile as Simon Ekpa may spend longer time in prison
Dr. Ngozi Orabueze has abruptly dissolved the Biafra Government In Exile following secret information that his former boss, Simon Ekpa may not be coming out from Finnish detention in a hurry.
News Band reported that Mrs. Orabueze, a former Chief of Staff to Mr Simon Ekpa, the self-acclaimed Prime Minister of Biafra Government In Exile, toppled his principal after he was thrown into prison for promoting violent agitation and terrorism in the Southeast of Nigeria.
Ekpa’s trial is scheduled to start in May 2025.
Ngozi, a former chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Atlanta, United States in a statement on Wednesday, announced the dissolution of Biafra Government In Exile.
She said all assets of the Biafra Republic Government In Exile and it’s affiliates shall be transferred to the secretary of the State of the United States of Biafra.
Orabueze also directed all officers of the former exile government to report to their counterpart with the United States of Biafra for reassignment.
The statement reads, “It is resolved that the Biafra Republic Government In Exile (BRGIE) is hereby dissolved as it’s reason for the existence has been superceded by the November 29, 2024 Declaration of the restoration of the Independent United States of Biafra
“All assets of the Biafra Republic Government In Exile and it’s affiliates(BRGIE corporation ID: D237527271) shall be transferred to the secretary of the State of the United States of Biafra.
“All officers of the former exile government shall report to their counterpart with the United States of Biafra for reassignment. All activities of the Biafra Republic Government In Exile shall cease as of February 15, 2025”.
Meanwhile, an insider source in the movement reliably told News Band that Ngozi decided to dissolve BRGIE after receiving intel that Simon Ekpa might spend longer time in prison.
The source also revealed that the Nigerian government is doing everything within it’s power to nail Simon Ekpa for all his atrocious acts in the SouthEast region.
So, the only way to keep the agitation going in the absence of Ekpa is to dissolve BRGIE.
“Yes, Ngozi Orabueze dissolved the Biafra Republic Government In Exile so as to be fully in charge of the assets belonging to the movement. With the way the Nigerian government is going about the case of Simon Ekpa, he may spend longer time in prison”, the source said.
Moreover, before now, Orabueze has been at war with some arrowheads of the separatist movement who refused to acknowledge her authority.
This however, has led to series of fights, accusation and counter accusations among the agitators.
We celebrate the life of Mrs. Roseline Udu Eze, a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and pillar of strength.
Her unwavering love, kindness, and selflessness left an indelible mark on all who knew her.
Though we mourn her passing, we take solace in the legacy she leaves behind and the cherished memories we hold. Rest peacefully in the arms of the Lord, dear Roseline.
You will forever be missed.
May her soul rest in perfect peace.
Amen.
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