- Praises the Conduct of Exercise
By Ken Afor
Enugu State Governor, Mr Peter Mbah and chairman of the Edo State three-man ad-hoc ward congress electoral committee, has commended the Edo State delegate election held on Sunday, ahead of the February 22 primary that will determine the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for the upcoming state gubernatorial election.
Mr Mbah, while commending the process of the exercise, said that the massive turnout was a testament to PDP’s commitment to conducting its party affairs based on the principles of fairness, equity, and justice.
He said: “This is a democracy where our people come to exercise their franchise. We appreciate this turnout, our party is known for the principles of fairness, equity, and justice. I wish you to all conduct yourselves properly as we hold this election.”
On his part, the Edo state governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, who was at his ward 4 collation center, dismissed the assertion that the internal differences in the PDP in the state would affect the upcoming governorship election.
He said: “You can see from the crowd here that it is a lot of success due to the huge turnout. We had over 600 people coming out to participate here, our people are very politically aware and we are happy with this turnout to elect delegates for our gubernatorial primary. we are also expecting this huge turnout in the main election.”
He further reiterated that “the crisis is hyped, it is not as fundamental as it is made to look. There is very little crisis, the crisis is fanned from the outside and our people are smarter than that. You will see during the main election, we are not going to allow ourselves to be sold.”
Responding to the decision of certain members of the Legacy Coalition within the PDP not to participate in the exercise, the governor added: “You cannot have 100 percent participation. You can see the crowd here. When we were in APC before we joined the PDP, we didn’t have these numbers so it is clear that the people we met in the party are still in the party”
While the Chairman of the electoral committee, Mr Mbah and Governor Obaseki commended the exercise, nine out of the 11 screened aspirants, including Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu, opted to stay away from the delegates election.
The nine aspirants had written a letter to the acting National Chairman, Umar Illiya, and the National Vice Chairman South-South of the party, Chief Dan Orbih, protesting against the process and composition of those conducting the delegates’ election.
Commending the exercise, Edo PDP Organising Secretary, Mr. Anthony Anenih, noted that the entire delegates election process was most peaceful as observed by INEC officials, except for an incident in Jattu, the Deputy Governor Shaibu’s hometown, where eight officials were reportedly abducted.
Anenih urged security agencies to investigate and ensure the safe release of the kidnapped victims.
He said: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ward delegates election to elect the three ad hoc delegates has been concluded across the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 192 wards in Edo State.
“The electoral officers who concluded the elections have since returned with results from the election handed over to the electoral committee set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
“The process which was observed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and various civil society groups was reported to be mostly peaceful across the state with only one incident at Jattu, the hometown of the Deputy Governor, Hon. Philip Shaibu, where eight of the officials heading to Etsako Central Local Government Area for the election were abducted.”
He added:”The party hereby calls on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to order a swift investigation of the incident and promptly ensure the release of the affected officials, whose families are troubled by the fate of their loved ones.
“Edo State chapter of the PDP by this medium express profound gratitude to leaders of our great party, the National Working Committee, the Ward Electoral Committee and all organs of the party for their keen supervision of this process that has resulted in a successful ward delegate election.“
The state ward congress committee headed by Governor Mbah has his Taraba State counterpart, Mr Agbu Kafas, as a committee member, with Marrie Ebikake, Dare Akinwale, and Pascal Adigwe, who was designated as the secretary.
