The incident reportedly occurred at a ceremony organized for the the State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, to perform the formal commissioning of a newly built state secretariat of the party as well as the presentation of vehicles to 25 local government party chairmen in the state.
A SaharaReporters correspondent learned that trouble started at the state party secretariat following a heated argument over a seat, between the state party chairman, and the wife of the former PDP national chairman.
Recalling her ordeal, Mrs. Mariam Nneamaka Ali, alleged that as a Board of Trustee member of the party, she had been, on several occasions, ‘sidelined’ by the state party chairman and others.
Her words: “A PDP stakeholder meeting was held in Abuja and as a Board member member, I was deliberately not invited and just today, another stakeholder meeting was held at the state party secretariat. The same time the same thing happened, I was not informed until someone called me that since I am in town, it will be nice and wise for me to attend, and I went. On arrival, I saw two vacant seats besides the former deputy governor, Chief Benjamin Elue, and the speaker, Mr. Peter Onwusanya. I quietly seated [myself] and immediately, to my surprise, the MC of the ceremony publicly announced that where I was seated was not meant for me.“As that was happening, the state party chairman, Peter Nwaoboshi, was called to the scene, and walked up to me, and asked me to stand up from the seat. And before anyone could say, ‘Jack Robinson,’ he gave me several severe slaps on my face, and started fighting me, and I sprang up from my seat in defense and immediately, over a hundred youths gathered and started attacking me, and tore my clothes,”
According to Saharareporters, a former political assistant to the state governor and PDP stalwart, Mr. Okocha Victor, corroborated Mrs. Ali’s statement, saying: ‘the wife of the former PDP national chairman was ganged-up on,’ and made to be humiliated.
But in his own side of the story, the state party chairman, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, debunked the allegations of anyone, including himself, fighting Mrs. Ali.
According to him: “She was the one who attacked me, tore my shirt, and slapped me twice. She went and sat on the chair reserved for the state deputy governor, and the security agents approached her to look for somewhere else to sit, and she ‘flared up,’ saying she is a member of Board, and who is the deputy governor. All efforts to pacify her failed, and she walked up to me and me if I knew she is a member of Board. I told her that I don’t know if she is a member of the BOT by my records. And the next thing I saw was a slap on my face, twice, and she tore my shirt.
“People were there, persons like the former deputy governor, the 25 local government party chairmen, security agents were all there, to confirm what I have just told you. Despite the provocation, I did not retaliate. Even when she slapped me twice, and tore my shirt to shreds. She could have been lynched if not for my intervention and the elders of the party,” Nwaoboshi stated.
STORY AND PHOTOS: SAHARAREPORTERS.COM
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