Protesters storm PDP national secretariat

Protest rocked the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday as aggrieved members from Delta State called for the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, over his alleged inability to resolve the gubernatorial candidate crisis in the state chapter.

The protesters, who called themselves
Concerned Deltans for Good Governance, alleged that the party boss has wilfully neglected to act on the judgment of the court, which affirmed David Edevbie as the validly elected governorship candidate of the PDP in the state.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court had on Thursday, July 7, 2022, disqualified Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori is the candidate of the Delta PDP for the 2023 governorship election.

In the judgment, he agreed with the plaintiff that Oborevwori, ought not to be on the ballot for the 2023 governorship election for the PDP on account of allegedly supplying false and forged documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of his qualification for the governorship election.

He, therefore, directed INEC and the PDP to recognize the plaintiff, Edevbie, as the candidate of the PDP in the 2023 governorship election in Delta State.

But in what looked like a conflicting judgement, the Federal High Court in Warri last Friday validated the primary election that produced Oborevwori as the governorship candidate of the PDP.

In the judgement delivered by Okon Abang, the court declared that the PDP’s primary election which was held on 25 May was validly conducted in line with the party’s constitution and election guidelines.

Oborevwori who is the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly emerged candidate of the PDP in the May 25 primary election of the PDP for the selection of its governorship flag bearer.

However, Edevbie, a former Commissioner of Finance under former Governor James Ibori, who came second in the primary had contended Oborevwori’s participation in the primary on the grounds of alleged discrepancies in his academic qualifications as well as his age.

He specifically urged the court to bar PDP from submitting Oborevwori’s name as the flagbearer of the party.

However, the protesters that stormed the party national secretariat on Monday, insisted that Edevbie is the rightful candidate whose name must be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The leader of the protesters, Chris Anthony, told reporters that the PDP boss was playing games by refusing to forward the name of Edevbie to the electoral body, which he pointed out, had acknowledged the judgment affirming Edevbie as the candidate.

He accused Ayu of incompetence, wondering how he could lead a political party that wants to govern the whole country when he is not able to resolve a state crisis.

The protest leader alleged that Ayu is the mole in the PDP as he is allegedly working for the failure of the party.

While calling for his resignation, Anthony said the party boss lacked the capacity to lead the main opposition party.

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