PDP aspirants demand immediate conduct of stalled primary

THE crisis over the conduct of primary elections by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi state continued on Tuesday as aspirants from Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency demanded immediate conduct of a free, fair, transparent and credible primary election for the constituency.

They said such would enable a candidate emerge that would truly reflect the wishes and aspirations of majority of delegates

The aspirants in a joint statement by Salman Idris, Sunday Adeleye, Okesuji Obatoyinbo and Taiwo Nathaniel, also demanded the reconstitution of a new election committee composed of persons of impeccable character to conduct the primary election during the day.

According to them, there was no primary election in the constituency and as such no candidate could have emerged as claimed by an aspirant, saying that delegates and aspirants waited in vain for materials and officials from the party secretariat.

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According to them, one of the aspirants used hired thugs to chase away delegates and escaped with the materials and the officials who had arrived the venue at very late hours.

The aspirants urged the party to provide adequate security for the primary election to deter those who might intend to unleash mayhem and disrupt the exercise

They maintained that in order to bring about discipline in the party, urgent, decisive and punitive actions should be taken against the perpetrators of the attempted midnight electoral robbery

The statement which reads in parts said “It is rather sad to see the level certain individuals have sunk in their desperation to unlawfully appropriate a mandate. Power truly belongs to the people and any plan to pervert the people’s wishes is outrageous and condemnable

“At this critical stage in our great party’s, efforts to reposition itself for success in the 2019 elections, old attributes that have been inimical to the party’s interest must be jettisoned

“Until and unless the primary election is held urgently, the resulting crisis will reduce the chances of the party in the 2019 election. We remain resolute on our insistence that the primary election must not only hold but be conducted in adherence to due process

“We understand that by INEC’s timetable, the deadline for all political parties to submit their lists of candidates is 7th October, 2018 and we await the decision of our party leadership on how we can escape this obvious quagmire”.