In a two-page press statement made available in Umuahia, Senators Uche Chukwumerije (Abia North), Nkechi Nwaogu (Abia Central), Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) and eight other governorship and senatorial aspirants, described what took place in the state yesterday as “charade which has no remedial features”.
The statement also signed by Dr Alex Otii and Chief Acho Nwakanma (governorship aspirants), Uzoma Abonta, Solomon Ogunji, Emeka Atuma, Nze Esiaga, Emeka Nwaogu and G. Nwanbu, said the exercise was a “shameless caricature of democracy”.
According to them, it was “a cruel stab on PDP’s legacy of internal democracy and a crude mockery of our great party’s assurance of a level playing ground.
“The gross aberration is unprecedented in executive impunity and it is the ultimate in anti-democracy conspiracy and fascist fraud.”
Chukwumerije who read the press release stated that the Tony Ceaser Okeke national congress team arrived at 1.20pm to the state secretariat of the Abia PDP and had a meeting with aspirants delegates and stakeholders who expressed their fears of the plan to hijack the congresses by the state government.
He stated that the meeting ended at 2.15pm but that the disappearance of the party registers of all the 184 wards in Abia contrary to the guidelines for conduct of congresses was clearly made known to the Abuja panel during the meeting:
“The panel gave the assurance that the congresses will follow strictly the party’s guidelines and constitution.
“But unfortunately the team failed to produce the mandatory election materials for the congresses viz; collation materials; identity tags for those to go to supervise the elections; party registers and even nobody deployed to the field.
“In the field where people waited, nobody came with any materials. The only activity was the local government transition committee chairmen moving about with their security and video crew and still photographers taking pictures of the crowds anxiously waiting for the arrival of the electoral officers.
“Between 5.30pm and 6pm, the people dispersed to their homes disappointed, which means that No congresses held anywhere in Abia according to the guidelines of the party.”
They stated that from about 8pm they noticed surreptitious movements of non-executive members of the party and government officials carrying pre-prepared fictitious result sheets of papers to the members of the panel in Damgrete Hotel where they were huddled since their arrival after the meeting with stakeholders and aspirants which as earlier noted ended at 2.15pm.
They also alleged that the panel spent most of the night compiling fictitious results, concluding that no congress election of any type took place in the whole of Abia:
“We insist that 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. 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 crude mockery of our great party’s assurance of a level playing ground.”
Abaribe said: “We insist on election and we are saying let the people decide. We do not know why they are afraid to come to the field and let the people decide. We have given up our selves to the party and we are saying let the people make that decision, that they are afraid to come to the field means that they do not believe in democracy, fair play and in a fair contest and this is not good for PDP. All of us are PDP people and we are the people that will deliver President Goodluck Jonathan in Abia and we can not be excluded from this process.”
He said that if the government comes out with any result, they would challenge it at the PDP congresses electoral panel.
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Abia senators, others declare war over PDP congress |
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