Gov primary: Bayelsa PDP elects 315 ad hoc delegates

THREE hundred and fifteen ad hoc delegates emerged in the early hours of Saturday from the ward congresses held across the 105 wards and eight local government areas in Bayelsa State on Friday by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Two men and one woman were elected in the congress from each of the wards and are to serve as delegates in the governorship election primary of the party slated for September.

The final collation of the results of the congress presided over by the committee chairman and  governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, was announced at the party’s secretariat  in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Addressing party stakeholders at the end of the exercise, Governor Umahi commended their cooperation and enjoined them to continue to nurture the unity in the party and show respect to the leaders of the party in the state.

He assured them that he would consult with the leaders and major stakeholders of the party to ensure reduction in the number of aspirations before the September 3 gubernatorial primary.

“We have conducted this election as transparent as possible. We entertained a few complaints at the beginning of the exercise which we solved to the satisfaction of all the aspirants and the party people.

“We have asked the party chairman to work with our great leader of the party and former President Goodluck Jonathan and of course, Governor Seriake Dickson, who is the leader of the party in the state.

“I will try to meet with the stakeholders to see how they can trim the number of the aspirants before the primary elections of September 3.

“It is very highly advisable. I wish you well and I know that if you bond together as a very united family of PDP, we will surely win the next election as we have always done, “ he said.

Recall that there was a protest by some key members of certain aspirants nearly rocked the congress in the morning.

Prominent among the protesters were members of the Campaign Organisation of the former Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Timi Alaibe.