Seven governorship aspirants and six other party elders were among those warning the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of a possible implosion if it allows a certain cabal to seize the party and impose its candidates for the 2023 elections.
The party stakeholders, who are particularly concerned about the developments in the Abia State chapter of the main opposition party, include Senate Minority Leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe, who is a governorship aspirant; six of his co-governorship aspirants, including Ude Oko Chukwu (Deputy Governor, Abia State), Senator Emma Nwaka (former PDP State Chairman), Dr Chima Anyaso, Chief Ncheta Omerekpe, Chief Samson Orji and Chief Enyinnaya Nwafor.
Others who signed a petition to warn the party over the weekend are Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, (member, PDP Board of Trustees), Senator Adolphus Wabara (former Senate President), Uzoma Nkem Abonta (member, House of Representatives), Dr Eme Okoro, Chief Charles Ogbonna, and Barr David Iro.
Their petition to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP is based on the scheduled congresses for the election of 3-man Ward ad-hoc delegates initially fixed for April 30, 2022, but was cancelled due to a court injunction.
“The implication is that this individual will singularly determine all 24 individuals who will emerge as candidates for the 24 State Constituencies of Abia State because having 100 per cent control of the ad-hoc delegates already gives him over 40 per cent of the votes for each of the congresses before the events even hold.
“Similarly, this individual and his acolytes will determine all eight candidates of the Party for the House of Representatives, all three candidates for the Senate and, of course, who becomes Governor of Abia State in 2023.
“Abia State will be in the pocket of one individual if this is allowed to happen. Nothing like this has ever occurred in Abia State before.”
The stakeholders pointed out that many well-meaning and loyal members of the PDP in Abia State have sounded the alarm about this development, noting: “It is inconceivable that an individual who has taken the benefit of the platform of the party wants to leave a legacy of total destruction of the PDP which is what is invariably about to occur because the issues are very clear.
“These unconscionable cabals falsely claim that congresses held in Abia State when every truthful person in Abia State generally and PDP members, in particular, know that no congresses held anywhere in Abia State.”
They accused the Abia State Resident Electoral Commissioner of going beyond his statutory powers to receive notice of a purported list of committee members written by the State PDP Chairman, Alwell Asiforo Okere, “to conduct the imaginary Congresses fixed for 6th May 2022.”
“This Notice was purportedly received by the REC on the 5th day of May 2022. In law, Notices take effect on the date they are received. Thus the REC (not INEC) received a day’s Notice of the sham congress going by the records of the cabal. All of these are to no effect,” the petitioners averred.
They further observed: “We know from what has happened in the past in Zamfara and Rivers States as recent examples, that these matters do not end with who prevails at the congresses and primaries, but the substantive issues will invariably continue to be litigated afterwards, sometimes up to the Apex Court.
“Wasting money and resources to enjoy a temporary victory is pyrrhic. Eventually, the Courts will have to look at the issues and determine whether indeed valid Congresses were held in Abia State.
“If they hold otherwise, everything built on such loose sands will sink and this may happen after millions, perhaps billions of Naira have been invested by PDP candidates across the State in campaigning and contesting the General elections.
“The opposition parties are watching and praying that the PDP will sink into a self-inflicted quicksand.
“Finally, we want to caution that a legacy for posterity which records that an individual was assisted to the highest pedestal in public service only to be responsible for the destruction of that party is not one to be desired.
“PDP is on the brink; it is time to step back,” the stakeholders warned.
How Workplace Sexual Harassment Forces Many Out Of Their Dream Jobs
Primaries: Abaribe, Wabara, Ugochukwu, others warn of ‘impending’ PDP implosion
Credit: Nigerian Tribune