There was pandemonium in the early hours of Monday as aggrieved stakeholders and party faithful stormed the State Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River state to protest against the alleged automatic ticket that the party has granted some class of persons in the party.

Vanguard gathered that the aggrieved members who came in their thousands are protesting against the plans by the PDP at the national to give aspirants especially National Assembly members automatic
ticket.

Vanguard also gathered that two supporters were shot at the venue of the protest (PDP Secretariat) following a disagreement among party members but were immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment.

The placard carrying protesters/members who stormed the Party Secretariat at 42a Muritala Mohammed Highway in Calabar decried the planned move by the party at the national to impose candidate on them.

Vanguard observed from various inscriptions on the placard like “reverse automatic ticket”, ”PDP going going Gone” ,RIP PDP, Let us go to the field” among others decried the fact that many of the aspirants who have been purportedly given automatic ticket have already served more than one term .

They called on the National Chairman, Mr. Uche Secondus to as a matter of urgency look into the matter by reversing the automatic ticket and calling other aggrieved party members to a round table
before it is too late.

IT IS A DANGEROUS PROCESS AND DECISION…EKPO OKON

Addressing Journalist on Monday at the party Secretariat, Ntufam Ekpo Okon, former PDP chairman in the state and Senatorial aspirant said they will not blink and allow this impunity to go unchallenged.

His words: “We will not blink and allow this to go on unchallenged. We are conversant with democratic values and the content of the constitution of our party. We have read the guidelines for these
primaries, the process of nomination party primaries and we did not just jump into this. We have been members who have paid our dues.

“Now, the process have started, we paid for our nomination forms and paid all fees required only for us to be called and told that the NWC of our party has taken a position to direct all incumbent members of the National Assembly should be returned unopposed. That means even if we go through the congresses, we do not stand any chance because they would send names that they have decided to send.

“They pretended as if we were going to have congress to elect adhoc delegates. And meanwhile did not do any congresses anywhere in the 196 wards of Cross River and wrote lists of delegates to support that charade.

“The truth of the matter is that it is unfortunate because it means that PDP, as a party, has learnt nothing. All that befell PDP in 2015, one would have expected that PDP would have come out of this situation wiser.

But if this is what PDP has chosen to do, it is not acceptable and it is not going to go down well with us and we will not accept it. We are members of the party and insist that let there be level playing field. We are ready to contest on a level playing field. That charade called congresses of Saturday, anyway it did not hold, they just sat down and wrote down names, would not hold, must be cancelled forthwith, and let us do a democratically conducted exercise, supervised by INEC, let us ensure our party members make a choice.

“Look at APC. They are doing direct primaries. If I remember after the 2015 windfall that finished us, the Ekweremadu committee recommend a direct primary. We jettisoned all that. Today even the indirect primaries we cannot open our hearts and do the right thing. If this was the case, why didn’t you make the pronouncement and stop selling forms. You sold forms, collected money from us and now turn round to shortchange us. It is unacceptable.

We want the party to reverse itself on this dangerous process and do the right thing. If they don’t, we will consult with our people and do the needful. I am running in an election. It is my aspiration but it is an aspiration that goes beyond me. The same impunity that made us loose elections in 2015 has fully come back to the party even in a higher proportion and complicated dimension. We failed because of this kind of attitude in 2015 and if we don’t address it now we are likely to fail again,” he lamented .

AUTOMATIC TICKET IS OBNOXIOUS

In a related development, a communiqué signed by all NASS aspirants under PDP in Cross River and made available to Vanguard partly read “We are appalled by the decision to return all serving members of the National Assembly to placate them ,a few individual, over and above the collective wish and general good of a greater number politically conscious Cross Riverians;thereby limiting the pool of competent candidates available from which the party can select its flag bearers in the forthcoming elections.

“This is dangerous, as the party for the first time in the fourth republic, is faced with a formidable opposition, which controls the power at the centre. We believe that this is risky gamble. “Recall that this imposition of candidate, lack of open space and impunity railroad our party into the implosion from which she is yet to recover. It would appear that our party has not veered away from
that ignoble course and allow popular political reasoning of free and fair democratic practices prevail,’’ they stated.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanguardngr.com/2018/09/automatic-ticket-protest-rocks-pdp-two-shot-as-stakeholders-reject-decision-in-criver/amp/

They should go back to manual ticket then..

reading

My dear Cross River State is being short changed. Im happy for the opposition we have in Cross River State today. The Senators are not connected to their constituents at all. And the fraud master Ayade is the biggest mistake the state have ever made.

What are they afraid of? Let them come to the field

gen2briz:
They should go back to manual ticket then..

kiki this got me rolling on the floor, automatic ticket is undemocratic, so therefore pdp should show good examples and conduct free and fair primaries

Any Political Party that want to dethrone the Party in Power must be United,but there is nothing like Unity in the PDP, So therefore,I dont see PDP Defeating APC in 2019 general election

paid protesters

Na by force to serve? They will come and lie to us that the youths are yearning for them to serve.

PDP want to learn d hard way. why nt give in to d peopls demand. i thought ur party is a peoples party

centoke30:
paid protesters

You have started? So the immediate past pdp chairman ntufam okon and other legislative aspirants must be paid before they protest something that concerns them directly? Did you read the whole post at all? I said it severally that all what you wrote about akwa ibom politics are useless lies.you have brutally exposed yourself.

slivertongue:
PDP want to learn d hard way. why nt give in to d peopls demand. i thought ur party is a peoples party

When i say apc is getting stronger in ss,some blockheads that believe cross river is an ibo state will start arguing blindly.expect mass defections to apc

PDP... rest in peace ke .....
It may not even res t in peace

yomi96:
kiki this got me rolling on the floor, automatic ticket is undemocratic, so therefore pdp should show good examples and conduct free and fair primaries

No party can have good example.
The unfair agreement made with those APC decampees has turned everything upside down.

I expected PDP to take advantage of the defectors but they allowed d defectors to play them just because they were in a hurry to have heavyweights.

Imagine if they had conditioned Saraki and co who have being sidelined by APC for years, there wouldn't have been rancours in each state.

yomi96:
kiki this got me rolling on the floor, automatic ticket is undemocratic, so therefore pdp should show good examples and conduct free and fair primaries

U have always used PDP as ur template for fairness.
I expect u to condemn them outrightly on this because if it is APC I know what u would have said.

BTW, no party in Nigeria today cares about the masses.

Yusuf54:
Any Political Party that want to dethrone the Party in Power must be United,but there is nothing like Unity in the PDP, So therefore,I dont see PDP Defeating APC in 2019 general election

The automatic ticket to APC members defecting back to PDP is not fair on PDP members who stayed behind and who have been faithful to the party. If care is not taken,these politicians may move to another party thereby weakening PDP

try &b objective. see thing byond party parties. hold on 2 best practices. dat dey fought doesnt mean dey cant settle

onatisi:

The automatic ticket to APC members defecting back to PDP is not fair on PDP members who stayed behind and who have been faithful to the party. If care is not taken,these politicians may move to another party thereby weakening PDP

Are you not the one that went to the APC bush to gather firewood. Now it is becoming obvious that you gathered ant infested firewood, learn to deal with it.

H

Automatic Ticket: Ayade Offers To Refund Forms Expenses As Aggrieved Aspirants Threaten To Defect


Cross River Daily is fully aware the State Governor, Benedict Ayade is pleading with National Assembly aspirants of his party, PDP who are threatening to abandon the party as the governor confirms to them the position of PDP National on issuing automatic ticket to all National Assembly aspirants seeking re-election.

Ayade, while conveying the arrangement from The National expressed worry over his second term ambition, stating that if all the aggrieved aspirants leave the party, his chances of winning would be reduced beyond happy measure; hence, appealed that he was going to refund all expenses they must have incurred in purchasing the party’s nomination and expression of interest form.

Though, aimed at pouring oil on the troubled waters, the said aspirants did not find the governor’s offer very interesting as Cross River Daily sources reported that some of them howled at the governor, demanding to know whether the governor was also going to foot the overall cost they have incurred since they stepped into the race.

It remains unclear to Cross River Daily whether PDP Cross River State will domestic this arrangement and as well issue automatic ticket to all her incumbent House of Assembly members seeking re-election.


https://crossriverdaily.com/automatic-ticket-ayade-offers-to-refund-forms-expenses-as-aggrieved-aspirants-threaten-to-defect/

senatordave1:

You have started? So the immediate past pdp chairman ntufam okon and other legislative aspirants must be paid before they protest something that concerns them directly? Did you read the whole post at all? I said it severally that all what you wrote about akwa ibom politics are useless lies.you have brutally exposed yourself.

Your emotional attachment to politics will not allow you assimilate political comments.
that I said paid protesters up there has to do with the thousands they said that protest.
all of you guys should stop this holier than thou attitude. once it's a political protest, there is definitely a price tag at the back of it all.

PDP have alot to handle this period..

And these ones want to wrestle power from APC. Yet, their politics of desperation is still firm.... SMH

Stone age country

WII U

Power struggle. It is well.

OGA

Nonsense!!

Some party leaders are bent on burying PDP with their selfish desire and interest.

PDP is like an association of angry cultists. They'll keep destroying each other.

centoke30:

Your emotional attachment to politics will not allow you assimilate political comments.
that I said paid protesters up there has to do with the thousands they said that protest.
all of you guys should stop this holier than thou attitude. once it's a political protest, there is definitely a price tag at the back of it all.

Mass defection looming in cross river that will further deplete pdp ranks