Fifteen gubernatorial aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State have called for the cancellation of the ward delegates congresses held in the state last Saturday.
In a joint petition to the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ahmadu Mu’azu, the aspirants said the processes leading to the congresses were flawed and could not produce an acceptable outcome.
The 15 aspirants listed on the petition included Beks Dagogo-Jack, Hon. Bernard Mikko, Prof. Don Baridam, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, Hon. Gabriel Pidomson, Major Lancelot Anyanya (Rtd.), Senator Lee Maeba, and Nimi Walson-Jack.
Others include Capt. Sunday Nwankwo, Hon. Oseleya Ojuka, Chief Pawariso Horsfall, Sampson Ngeregbara, Dr. Silva Opusunju, Hon. Tamunosisi Jaja, Prince Tonye Princewill.
However, Dagogo-Jack and Nwankwo did not sign their columns in the petition. Among other allegations, the aspirants said: “As governorship aspirants, we can see that the processes leading up to the ward delegate elections, which is the foundation of all subsequent primaries, is clearly convoluted and flawed and cannot therefore produce an acceptable outcome.
“That the PDP in Rivers State in breach of the party’s constitution did not conduct open registration of party members and did not authenticate the party register after the Chief G.U. Ake-led Executive took away the membership registers.
“That the PDP in Rivers State did not display party registers as a condition precedent to the ward congresses as stipulated in the party constitution.
“That as it stands, due to the defection of officers who took party registers with them, the Rivers State PDP does not have a proper membership register and the party does not have properly constituted ward executive committees in most wards.
“That consequent upon (the) above, the Rivers State PDP cannot have properly constituted ward congresses to elect ward delegates.”
They noted that they had raised some of their grievances in a memorandum to the South-south Integration committee submitted by Concerned Rivers State PDP Stakeholders.
They expressed regret that the report of the committee had not been made public.
They also said, “The National Working Committee of our party should abide by and implement the provisions of the PDP Constitution in its Aims and Objectives in Chapter 1 item 7.3 (C) that guarantees ‘Adhering to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices.”
“That elective office in Rivers State should be zoned as has been done in Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Adamawa, and Enugu states.”
They therefore called “for the immediate cancellation of the ward congresses until these grievances are addressed to avert dire consequences that could affect the fortunes of the PDP in Rivers State, insisting that “the National Working Committee should order fresh registration of members of the party, in order to produce authentic party membership registers for the Rivers State PDP” before the ward delegate elections.
Meanwhile, the campaign offices of the aspirants have threatened to take legal action against the party if their grievances were not addressed by the party.
Addressing journalists on Sunday in Port Harcourt on behalf of the aspirants, spokesman for Major Lancelot Anyanya (Rtd.), Mr. Soalabo West, said there were no elections at the various wards while electoral materials were not distributed to the various venues.
He also alleged that the five-man panel set up by the party to conduct the elections did not show up at the party’s secretariat but concocted reports at the residence of one of the aspirants.
Flaunting forms allegedly bought by aspiring delegates, West said the party secretariat in the state refused to collect the forms, thereby denying the people the opportunity to contest the delegate elections.
His words:”These delegates sitting before you represent over 2,100 delegate-aspirants who bought the prescribed forms from the PDP national secretariat in Abuja… All efforts by these delegates to comply with the party’s directive on submission were rebuffed on the grounds that the forms were not purchased from the state secretariat.
“This brazen violation of a fundamental provision and directive of the national headquarters of the party in itself should invalidate the entire exercise.
“For the avoidance of doubt, these delegates are resolved to defend their mandate by any means, including litigation, if the party leadership does not immediately address this fraud.”
But the PDP has lauded its members for peaceful conduct of the ward congress in the 319 wards in the state.
The state Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Felix Obuah, in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr. Jerry Needam, said members voted freely in the elections.
He described those who called for the postponement of the exercise as agents of the opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The congresses were peaceful in all the 319 wards in Rivers State. Large turnouts greeted the PDP special ward congresses to elect three special ward delegates in Rivers State,” he said.
Similarly, in Abia State, the outcome of the ward congresses held across the 184 wards is now shroud in controversy as the three senators representing the state in the National Assembly have jointly rejected the results, saying that no ward congresses held any where in the state.
Senators Uche Chukwumerije, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Nkechi Nwaogu and Dr. Alex Otti, all signed a statement entitled: “No ward congresses in Abia,” which was read to journalists at a press conference in Umuahia barely 24 hours after the congress.
Chukwumerije, who read the prepared seven point statement, noted that the national congress team for Abia headed by Tony Caesar Okeke, did not supervise any congress as people had dispersed and went to their homes after waiting till 6p.m. without anybody coming to conduct the election.
“We insist on an election as scheduled by the constitution of the party be held as soon as possible within the time line of the 2015 electoral schedule of our great party,” he said.
According to him, “the charade that took place in Abia had absolutely no remedial features. It is a shameless caricature of democracy, a cruel stab on PDP’s legacy of internal democracy and a mockery of our great party’s assurance of a level playing ground.”
All the aggrieved politicians are fighting for their political lives with Senator Abaribe Senator Nwaogu and Dr. Otti jostling for the governorship ticket of the PDP in Abia, while Senator Chukwumerije is engaged in an epic battle to secure a fourth term berth in the Senate.
Franked by the other Senators, Chukwumerije alleged that “pre-pared fictitious result sheets were handed over to the members of the Tony Caesar Okeke- led panel at Damgrate hotel Umuahia “where they were huddled since their arrival after meeting with stakeholders and aspirants.
“Rumours have it that the panel spent most of the night copying compiling these fictitious results into their result sheets,” Chukwumerije alleged.
The visibly agitated aspirants accused the Abia PDP state executives and government officials of conniving to hijack the ward congress.
THISDAY
Sayelba Times 