A’Ibom 2023: PDP Guber aspirants demand cancellation of all primaries citing Illegalities

The coalition of Akwa Ibom gubernatorial aspirants has demanded the immediate jettisoning of the April 30th Adhoc congress as well as all primaries held by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state citing obscene irregularities and illegalities.

The coalition made up of some persons that presented themselves to contest the office of the governor namely Obong Ide Owodiong Idemeko, Mr. James Iniama, Mr David Okpon, and Hon. Idoreyin Umoh in a press statement tagged “IMPUNITY UPON IMPUNITY” and made available to Journalists on Sunday in uyo urged the National Working Committee and National Executive Committee of the PDP to cancel the conduct of the gubernatorial primaries in Akwa Ibom State pending the hearing and determination of the reliefs contained in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/606/22.

They opined that the primaries conducted for the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, and Senate positions using the 3 ad hoc delegates per ward in the state be immediately invalidated on grounds of its illegality.

“To say that the exercise of choosing a governorship candidate for the PDP in Akwa Ibom state was a charade is stating the obvious. The exercise was fraught with widespread irregularities, subterfuge, and intimidation. The impunity upon impunity was palpable and brazen. It was a mockery of civilized behaviour and the opposite of what is right and decent.”

“Sadly, the skewed political culture in the state, governed by patron saints would rather go for the ephemeral,” the statement read.

“Instead of allowing a level playing field for all aspirants to convince the electoral college to choose their preferred aspirant based on a thorough and cursory analysis of the capacity, character, and competence of individual aspirants, our know-all chieftains resorted to mundane considerations and subterfuge, and the result is the charade that came out of the Special State Congress held on May 25, 2022, for the purpose of nominating a Gubernatorial candidate for the Party.

“In fact, this charade and shambolic conduct have trailed all congresses leading up to May 25, 2022, Special State Congress in Akwa Ibom State.

“We reiterate that the complaints contained in our petitions did not in any form mean that we had withdrawn from the contest, and this informed our presence at the Special State Congress to enable us to observe at close range the conduct of the primaries as well as offer us the locus standi to further challenge the validity of the processes in a law court if need be.

“One of such seeming irregularities is that the so-called Adhoc delegates did not go through any proper identification and accreditation process before being allowed into the venue of the State Congress for Gubernatorial primaries.

“Secondly, the list of these ad-hoc delegates was not published for all aspirants to be properly informed of who to consult and engage. Only the government-sponsored aspirant had prior knowledge of who the ad-hoc delegates were and only he was able to meet with them before the primaries.

“Finally, only the government-sponsored aspirant, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, and his wife were listed as ad hoc delegates and had the opportunity to vote for themselves. Other aspirants were denied this privilege”. They observed.

“Unfortunately, our political culture, especially that of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State is not only skewed but strewn with all sorts of debris that precludes the emergence of any organized and cerebral candidacy, and where such seems possible, is immediately sacrificed on the altar of short-sighted considerations and predatory elite instincts.

They reiterated that they ran an organized and issue-based campaign, anchored on their individual and collective visions to address the many knotty issues hindering the development of the state.

“We did not only dissect the problems in our individual manifestoes and blueprints but proffered solutions; we knew the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of our problems and went further to provide the ‘how’ of handling these problems”.

The aspirants urged their supporters to remain calm and hopeful assuring them of arriving at a position that will be satisfactory to all.

“We will continue to update you as we fight for the soul of our party, state, and country”, the statement concluded.