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Ahead of the party’s primaries for the 2023 general elections, some members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in Abia State yesterday stormed the secretariat of the party in Umuahia to protest against what they claimed were moves by the State Chairman of the party, Asiforo Okere to impose adhoc delegates on them.
The Eastern Updates gathered that the protesters who called for the Chairman’s resignation, carried placards with various inscriptions, some of which read, ‘Asiforo working for the opposition; Abia PDP a shadow of itself under Asiforo; Asiforo wants to kill PDP; we hate imposition; imposition will not do us any good, NWC act now’ ‘Observe due process, then delegate election is guaranteed’, among others.
One of the protesters who who spoke to correspondents under the condition of anonymity alleged that Asiforo’s body language was favouring a certain ‘anointed’ governorship aspirant from Abia Central Senatorial district.
According to him, ‘Asiforo is doing everything possible to manipulate the process in favour of this retired Professor to emerge as the governorship candidate of the party.
‘PDP should forget about Abia State if the man emerges as its candidate. We are ready to sabotage the party if they refuse to allow an Abia North person succeed Governor Okezie Ikpeazu,’ he said.
The leader of the protesters who gave his name as Comrade O’Brien made known their grievances included but not limited to the ward 3-man ad-hoc delegate election which was rumoured to have been held yesterday without their knowledge.
The protesters demanded to know when the forms for the purported delegate election was sold and why they were kept in the dark regarding the conduct of the delegate election.
They accused the chairman of the party of aiding some people to hijack the process and not providing a level playing ground as he had earlier promised and expected of him.
“We are not comfortable with the way the state chairman is piloting the affairs of the party and the way he is going about the Adhoc delegate election”.
Addressing the protesters, Okere said the delegate forms were not sold in Abia, but Abuja, by the National body of PDP.
He thanked the protesters for their peaceful disposition and urged them to close ranks to ensure that PDP retains power in Abia.
The protesters, not satisfied with Asiforo’s explanation demanded to know if it were true the forms where sold in Abuja, it was never advertised and people were not aware and further accused the chairman of not protecting the interest of the party in the state.
They wondered why House of Assembly forms where sold in Abia state whereas delegate forms worth N10,000 would be sold in Abuja, and demanded to know the rationale behind such decision.
The Eastern Updates recalls that the PDP 3-man delegate election could not hold in Abia on Saturday following allegation there was a plot to manipulate the outcome in favour of a certain ‘anointed candidate’.
