A’Ibom PDP Entices Statutory Delegates to Claim They Voted in Primaries.



Like a drowning person in the face of a suffocating wave, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State has frantically been trying to grab at straws to stay afloat, by enticing some statutory delegates to sign blank forms that they participated in the last primaries.

The forms circulated across the state through the party chapter offices on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, had only one inscription: “Statutory Delegates”, with blank spaces for signatures and there was no written or verbal explanation as to the import of the decuments.

However, a source at the State Secretariat of PDP confided in our reporter that a covering letter had already been prepared pending the eventual collation of all the signatures, dissociating the statutory delegates from an ongoing case at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Unknown to the unsuspecting statutory delegates, the said covering letter, we learnt, clearly claimed that “the undersigned” duly participated in the just concluded primaries in the stat, while denouncing involvement in any case to claim their rights.

The desperate move, according to our source, was an attempt at diluting the expected tsunamic effect of the on-going case between some statutory delegates and the Akwa Ibom PDP, which comes up for hearing on July 5, 2022.

It was learnt that the government
released N250, 000 for each statutory delegate who agreed to sign the blank paper, however, our source said the agents of government handling the process gave out a paltry N50, 000 to the gullible delegates, while some got nothing.

A delegate, who said he refused to sign the ominous document, told us that he felt scandalised that a party that once commanded so much respect and followership could sink so deep into an irredeemable level of desperation and hypocrisy.

He described as sad a situation the same party that a day earlier had set up a “reconciliation committee” would still go ahead to cook the books to cover its earlier deliberate disenfranchisement of its members, even against its own constitution.

It bears recalling that PDP in Akwa Ibom state, clearly stated that only adhoc delegates will be used for the primaries and went ahead to execute same.

A statement personally signed by the state chairman, Rt Hon Aniekan Akpan on May 22, 2022 said: “The National Working Committee of our Party had earlier clarified that
by virtue of Section 84( of the Electoral Act, 2022, those qualified and eligible to vote as delegates in the forthcoming Primaries and National
Convention of our great Party are the three (3) AD-HOC Delegates per ward, elected at the Ward Congresses and one (1) National Delegate per Local Government, elected at the Local Government Area Congresses”.

A list of three delegates per ward, duly stamped by the Directorate for Organisation and Mobilisation of the party, was subsequently released and used for all the primaries.

However, on July 5, 2022, the plaintiffs expect the court to declare, based on the combined provisions of Sections
83(3), 84( of the Electoral Act, Articles 25; Part 10, Article of the PDP constitution; that PDP cannot lawfully conduct congress and primary elections monitored by INEC without the requisite quorum of democratically elected statutory and adhoc delegates.

The court is also expected to declare the exclusion of PDP statutory delegates from the primaries as illegal, since their functions include being delegates to the State Congress for voting in any PDP primary election.

The plaintiffs also seek a declararion that all the PDP primares conducted this year, towards producing candidates for the various elective positions for next year’s election are in the breach of the electoral act, the PDP Constitution and are therefore defective, wrongful, illegal, null and void.

The court is also expected to stop INEC from recognising or accepting candidates produced from those defective primaries for inclusion in the General Election of next year.

They also asked the court to order PDP to conduct a fresh state congress and primary election for the proper nomination of candidates for the state House, House of Representatives, Senate and Governorship.

According to Section 84(13) of the Electoral Act: “Where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of this Act, in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate for election shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue”. What this means is that in the case of Akwa Ibom State, there will be no candidate for Governorship, Houses of Assembly and Representatives, as well as Senate, should the court grant the prayers of the aggrieved Akwa Ibom PDP statutory delegates.