Secretariat staff at the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have threatened to report members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation.
The workers are also calling for the immediate resignation of the party leaders over alleged corrupt practices, which they said, led to the PDP’s defeat in the last general elections.
The leadership of the party had on Wednesday given the workers notice of a 50 per cent slash in their salaries and allowances.
In the memo signed by the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, the party also gave notice of reducing the workforce by half.
At a protest organised by the workers at the party secretariat yesterday, they specifically called on the EFCC to investigate the party’s Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.
The protesting workers accused the party leaders of squandering over N12 billion proceeds realised from the sale of nomination forms for the last general elections.
Mr. Dan Ochu-Baiye, who spoke on behalf of the workers, said: “We call on the anti-graft agencies such as the EFCC, the police and ICPC to beam their searchlight on the nefarious activities of the PDP NWC before they finally take the party to the graveyard”.
Ochu-Baiye said the workers were in possession of incriminating documents on the party leaders and they would not hesitate to avail the anti-graft agencies with the documents.
He continued: “It is curious to observe that a party which once prided itself on being the biggest party in Africa could be so liquidated by such executive recklessness of its NWC members so much that N12billion was squandered in nine months.
“Party members will need to know why delegates were compelled to pay N10,000 each into a private account of a company called Morufi Nigeria Limited. We are aware that over N1 billion was realised from this fraudulent exercise”.
The workers said criminal imposition of unpopular candidates and the extortionist tendencies among the party leaders during the last general elections had brought the PDP to its knees.
They cited the case of N750 million some of the party leaders collected from a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, to help him secure the Delta State governorship ticket but which they failed to deliver.
“In Kogi State, it is widely alleged that the incumbent Governor was requested to cough up the sum of N1billion to the same NWC members for him to retain his ticket.
“In view of the incontrovertible fact that the current NWC has lost relevance and direction and has proved grossly incompetent of leading the party out of the present quagmire, we demand their immediate resignation”, Ochu-Baiye said.
The aggrieved workers appealed to the party’s Board of Trustees, the National Caucus and other members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to invoke the relevant sections of the party’s constitution and call for a meeting of the NEC.
They also demanded that Prof. Oladipo must withdraw the memo conveying the 50 per cent slash in their pay and to adhere to provisions of the establishment manual if the party no longer required their services.
But Oladipo in a reaction said, “I have met with them severally on the allegation of no meeting between my office and the workers, but you only meet with people based on regulation. They are not members of the NWC.
“They said we should go. How do you tell somebody to go and also say he should withdraw a circular? It is contradictory. You cannot go and at the same time withdraw a circular”.
Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the workers’ allegations were “baseless falsehood”, adding that they were only playing out the script they were handed by the opposition APC.
He noted that the party was aware of plots by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to infiltrate her members and create confusion within the party, using the workers.
Metuh wondered why the protest was coming at a time the PDP has become “a thorn in the flesh” of the ruling APC and its government at the centre.