[PDP Reps caucus faults Chukwu ‘s endorsement as Ebonyi gov candidate] ------------ THE Ebonyi State caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives has distanced itself from what it described as ‘manifest illegality’ which led to the selection of the former Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, as the consensus governorship candidate for the Ebonyi PDP. The group which faulted the process which culminated in the selection of the former minister also raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Ebonyi State Governor, Martin Elechi to “retire” the National Assembly caucus through underhand methods. Addressing reporters at the National Assembly in Abuja Monday, leader of the group, Sylvester Ogbaga expressed shock that Governor Elechi elected to unilaterally ‘anoint’ aspirants without consultation and participation of critical stakeholders of the party in the ongoing party primaries. “The governor assembled a hand-picked group of persons under the guise of the Old Abakaliki bloc and unilaterally announced the former Health Minister, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu as the consensus governorship candidate for the Ebonyi PDP. “We are aware that no true attempt at consensus building was undertaken, and no consensus has been achieved on the issue even as we speak. For instance, no attempt was made or has been made to consult with the National Assembly caucus, the State Assembly caucus, Traditional institution and other such critical stakeholder groups in the state,” he said. Linus Okorie who spoke on behalf of the caucus, expressed disappointment at Governor Martin Elechi’s disposition to exhibit the opposite of the avowed commitment to be fair, unbiased, and to abide by the rules and extant guidelines of the party during the primaries. Okorie who outlined the group’s grouse over alleged manipulation of the conduct of the delegates congress among other infractions, said the members found out that they had all been collectively ‘retired’ by the governor and his appointees as none of them was considered in the “allocation of delegates forms” under the invidious design of the state government.” “What manifested was the wholesale hand over of the delegate forms to ‘anointed aspirants’ to whom our different seats had already been allocated even before the primaries.” “To cap up the rape of the PDP constitution and guidelines that characterized the missteps of the Ebonyi State chapter of the party in recent weeks, the State secretary of the party, who claimed to be acting under the direction of the leader, convened an emergency meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party on Friday October 31 , 2014 which notice was immediately countered as illegal and unauthorized by the state Acting Chairman, citing relevant sections of the party constitution,” he said. While dissociating the members from the alleged “illegality”, he said all the acts of abuse of the party constitution and approved guidelines were undertaken to circumvent the process, manipulate the delegates’ list and subsequently proceed to return a set of pre-determined candidates for the various positions under the party without genuine and credible primaries. He appealed to all organs of the party to remain on the alert to ensure that all PDP candidates in Ebonyi State emerge through credible primaries achieved through adherence to the party constitution, extant guidelines and approved processes and procedure. “We plead that the governor of Ebonyi state should be prevailed upon to grant us and indeed all aspirants a level playing field to canvass our candidature and not seek to ‘retire’ us ignominiously through underhand methods that is capable of truncating the system and destroying the party and her electoral chances,” he said.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 21:53:46 +0000
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