Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State, Chief Kingsley Esiso, has said that the party is waiting patiently for the outcome of the Court of Appeal to determine who flies the party’s flag come 2023.
Esiso made the remark during the mega rally organised by the PDP in Ozoro, Isoko South Local Government Area of the state on Saturday.
Recall that on Friday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) omitted the name of the governorship candidate of the PDP in the state following the appeal filed by Mr Sheriff Oborevwori to squash the judgement of the Abuja High Court which ousted him as the governorship candidate of the party.
The court had ruled that the runner up, Mr David Edevbie, should be presented by the PDP to INEC as its substantive candidate for the 2023 governorship election in the state.
Oborevwori, who’s the speaker of the state House of Assembly and favoured by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, was ousted by the court over discrepancies in his certificates.
The omission of Delta PDP governorhip candidate from the publication of INEC on Friday had sent jitters into the spines of members some of whom had concluded the party was out of the race.
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But INEC was quoted by the party as saying that after the case between Oborevwori, who won the party’s primaries and former Chief of Staff to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Edevbie, who came second, is determined by the appellate court, they will publish the name of the party’s flagbearer.
Speaking further, Esiso, who was optimistic that they would all smile at the end of the day, opined that they conducted one of the freest and fairest governorship primaries in the state that produced a candidate, noting that they “dutifully submitted the name of that candidate.”
The party boss, who was careful not to mention any name after vowing to unveil the authentic candidate at the rally, simply said that “as a responsible and respected party, having conducted a free, fair and credible election,” it is their responsibility to stand and defend the outcome of that primary.
“As I speak, the issue before the court has nothing to do with the integrity and credibility of that primary, but I want to say, because our party is responsible, it is also the constitutional right and that right is also backed by the Electoral Act of anybody who feels aggrieved to approach the court.
“We are not against anybody approaching the court; but you must also know that if you approach the court and the court gives you judgement, the man whom you took to court also has the constitutional right to appeal the judgement,” he asserted.
The rally was attended by chieftains of the party from across the state.
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