PDP: PLEASE WAS IT A MOCK PRIMARIES? BY TOROBONG EKPO. In a petition sent to the National leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), some State Assembly aspirants from different constituencies, claim that no House of Assembly primaries was conducted over the weekend, noting that it was a mere ‘mock congress’ aimed at testing if the governor’s ‘anointed’ would emerge victorious on the 8th of December, 2014. Another aspirant who pulled his supporters out of the race at Uyo Township Stadium said that, the environment was not conducive due to sporadic gun shots and tear gas which filled the venue of the event, adding that, some of his supporters would have developed high blood pressure and die or even suffocate and passed on as a result of the menace. He complained that, those that voted were thugs and hard men who can withstand such situation due to their ruggedness, adding that, party primaries cannot be conducted under such military atmosphere. Founding members of PDP in the country, Obong Christopher Ekpenyong and Chief Ibok Essien insisted that, the conduct of the said primaries did not comply with the electoral laws and PDP constitution, thereby urging the hierarchy of the Party to stand down the primaries, till it follow due process. In their different petitions, the party chieftains quoted Chapter VIII, Article Seven of PDP, 2012 constitution which read, ‘In the conduct of primaries for the party candidates for members of local government, council chairman and house of assembly, the primaries should be held at the local government constituency headquarters’ From their viewpoints, the Akpabio led PDP disenfranchised some of their delegates who could not afford the transport money to the mopol base, stadium and other places the events were ‘forcefully’ shifted to. The attached the judgment sheet of the Federal High court in a case between Hon. Eseme Eyiboh and Hon. Dan Abia, as a reason the party should not allow such primaries to hold sway. The former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State and former state officer of PDP referred the leadership of the party to Section 87 (4) (c) of the Electoral Act 2010, which states, ‘In the case of nomination to the office of senatorial candidate, House of Representative and state house of assembly. A political party shall where they intend to sponsor candidates hold special congress in the senatorial district, Federal Constituency and state assembly respectively with delegates voting for each aspirants in designated centres at specified dates…where a political party fails to comply with the provision of the act in the conduct of primaries, its candidate for election SHALL NOT BE INCLUDED in the election for the particular position in issue’ Suffice to add that, these laws were made by Nigerians who understood the security situations in this country very well but insist that, primaries should be conducted in headquarters of constituencies. They also knew that, each local government area is entitled to Divisional Police Officer (DPO), State Security Service (SSS) and other security chiefs, whose duty is to maintain laws and order. They knew that, primaries is a village thing, thus, the people must fully participate. I guess, they also knew that, if taken to other places, the people may not have transport to pay to the designated venue, and that the election may be maneuvered to fit into the ‘anointed’. The state leadership of the party, may not have toe this line of argument, they shifted the venue of the primaries on a Friday night, without making provisions on how the poor delegates will transport themselves to the venue. They also read the delegates list in the wee hour of the election, against the mandatory requirement. This act, some lawyers and political analysts portray it as illegal and intentional. Aside from Ibesikpo, Etinan, Essien Udim and Uyo state constituencies. Other constituencies’ primaries were conducted several kilometers away from their various constituent, in a military-like environment- an act which reminded me of ABACHA’S regime. Other aspirants claimed that, those that voted in the shifted venues were not the authentic people, stressing that, the delegates list was either doctored or the authentic persons were barred from the venue. These allegations need a SAN. Because I could recall that, prior to the party primaries, two bulk text messages; ‘‘BREAKING NEWS: Governor Akpabio has offered PDP Primaries Panel from Abuja the sum of two Billion naira to dump the official list brought from Abuja and use the fake list Obong Paul Ekpo has denied to conduct the primaries, PDP members, please take note.’ And, ‘Gov. Akpabio is currently reading fake list on AKBC Radio. He should paste the list at the party office as the guideline says. 2billion is working but God will shock money soon.’ Were in circulation. Could these bulk text messages related to this last allegation labelled against the party? It is barely two days after the House of Assembly primaries came to a halt, maybe an end. The state chapter of PDP has not come up with any result, though there are some unauthorized results on the internet, none attributed to the leadership of the party. Even if the party read and paste the result, we still need Patience and an eagle eye to watch who will hold the party ticket and the flag when the D-DAY comes. In 2007, I could recall how Chief Ime Albert won election as senator on internet, ‘white paper’ but Senator Effiong Bob held the ticket, flag and was sworn in. I could also recall how Ita Enang contested for senate but ended up as third term member in the House of Representative. These are some of the incidents, History students can never forget in haste. So many disputes are currently on various constituencies. PDP remains one and indivisible party. I have seen a lot of celebration going on the internet, regarding the outcome of Saturdays Primaries. Yesterday, a friend of mine, Otobong Nsekpong called me and expressed his joy over the outcome especially in his constituency; my advice to these gullible politicians is to wait for the final whistle, because in politics, anything can happen. Until you are being sworn in, that is when you can breathe a sigh of relief; even then, you can as well be removed from office like Bassey Etim and Eseme Eyiboh. I have also seen a lot of petitions, claims and counter claims. Above all, I have not seen the outcome yet from the Akpabio led party. Thus, I wish to ask, Was it a MOCK PRIMAIRES? If yes, please when will the party hold the authentic one? I am waiting.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 14:46:38 +0000
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