The battle for the control of the soul of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Imo State got messier, in Abuja, on Tuesday.
Attempts by the national leadership of the party to find a solution to the crisis which trailed the composition of the Presidential Campaign Council of the State chapter of the party is yet to yeild results.
Former Governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha, had emerged Chairman of the Council, a development which did not go down well with the camp of the party’s National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
Supporters of Ihedioha and Anyanwu had stormed the party’s national headquarters in Abuja where they clashed at a meeting convened by the PDP National Working Committee, NWC, to resolve the issues.
The meeting, reliable sources told this newspaper, went on for about five hours, and was inconclusive.
It is expected that the party’s presidential and vice presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, will wade into the matter.
Before the Abuja meeting, this newspaper had reported that the fate of 17 local government Chairmen of the party hangs in the balance, after they initiated a failed attempt to sack Engr. Charles Ugwu, as State party Chairman.
The Chairmen were said to have acted on the promptings of the Anyanwu camp, who wanted to break the control Ihedioha has on the party structure in the State.
The former governor has 95 percent of his loyalists of the party in charge of the wards, LGAs and State executives of the party.
Ihedioha and Anyanwu are eying the governorship ticket of the PDP in Imo State ahead of the 2023 governorship election in the State.
As at press time, moves to suspend the 17 LGA party Chairmen were ongoing before the Abuja meeting was held on Tuesday.