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The 5-member Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ward Congresses Electoral Committee for Anambra says the congress was held and concluded on Sunday at the designated collation centre in Awka, Anambra.
The Chairman, Congress Electoral Committee for Anambra, Jibrin Ahmed, said this while reading out a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP on the congress at a press briefing in Enugu on Monday.
Ahmed noted that it was on record that the election was “free, fair and successfully concluded” except for the alleged incident of holding members of the committee hostage for over two hours and rescue by the Department of State Security (DSS).
He explained that the purported cancellation of the three-man ad-hoc delegate congress elections for Anambra was untrue.
The chairman said that the current video of the cancellation was stage managed and done under duress when the lives of the committee members were threatened by some party faithful.
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The letter reads in part: “However, due to the security situation in Anambra State, the chairman in his wisdom decided that we postponed it to the next day Sunday, May 1, 2022, and communicated the same to the admin secretary.
“We got to the party secretariat at about 11 a.m. on Sunday and addressed the party members and stakeholders present thereafter, we distributed the electoral materials including the original results sheets to the designated 3-man electoral panel of the 21 local government areas.
“After distribution, some party faithful stormed the party’s secretariat (venue of the congress) and insisted that we give them the original results sheets, which have already been distributed on the ground that the list of 3-man local government area electoral panels being used for the exercise is not favorable to them.
“They locked the entrance and compelled the committee to do a letter cancelling the exercise and thereafter forced us to do a press conference.
“They initially compelled the committee to sign the photocopies of the results in our possession and issued the same to the people in their own list of 3-man local government electoral panels.
“A decision they later rescinded and asked us to cancel the exercise out rightly. Hence, handing over the signed photocopies to them through the administrative Secretary of the party, Mr Casmir Ajulu.
“The men of the DSS later rescued us after being held hostage for more than two hours. We then proceeded to the collation centre, Bon Hotel, a place chosen due to lack of electricity and security at the party’s secretariat and concluded the exercise”.
The letter was duly signed by the electoral committee members; thus, Jibrin Ahmed (Chairman); Captain Frank Ntima (rtd) (Member); Hon. Amara Ogbu (Member); Mr Azubuike Odoh (Member) and Mr Ogbonna Victor (Secretary).
The letter was copied to the National Secretary of PDP; National Organising Secretary of PDP; Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC Anambra State; Commissioner of Police in Anambra State; Director, DSS Anambra State and Commandant of Civil Defence Corps.
