Some of the Aspirants for the positions of house of assembly, house of representatives, senate and governor, under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi State Chapter, have kicked against the plans to hold another primaries.
The aspirants who started this in Abakaliki, capital of the State on Friday said they will boycott the fresh primaries.
The national working committee of the party had scheduled the elections to hold on 28th and 29th of May, 2022.
However, midway into the exercise, the NWC announced its cancellation.
But the exercise went on and was concluded with the emergence of Ifeanyi Odii as winner of the governorship primary election.
However, the NWC on Tuesday wrote to INEC reiterating the cancellation of the primary election.
But the aspirants who spoke through a former house of representatives member and winner of Ebonyi central senatorial zone primary election, Lazarus Ogbee insisted that the already held primary must stand.
They warned that the party may end up not having any candidate or losing any position it wins in next year’s election to other parties like what happened to APC in Zamfara and Rivers in the past.
They noted that the rumour for a fresh primaries in the state, was an invitation to anarchy and crisis, and not healthy as the country is preparing for a general election.
According to Ogbee, the delegates that nominated the house of assembly, house of representatives, senate and governor were legitimately elected across the 171 wards of the state.
He added that the primaries were conducted in the presence of INEC and security agents.
He said: “candidates were nominated on 28th and 29th to fly the flag of the party, ranging from house of assembly, house of representatives and governor. I want to recall that the NWC of the party scheduled the primary in Ebonyi on 28th and 29th of May.
“It is on record that because of the little crisis in the party, there was no primary election in Ebonyi State when other states nominated their representatives.
“Three man delegates were elected in the 171 wards of the state. The delegates are in turn expected to vote for the candidate of their choice and this they did from the 28th and 29th of May.
“Today, we started hearing rumours that the same NWC has reversed themselves and directed that the same primary election be conducted on the same position. There was no reason or breach of the party guidelines that another set of primary be conducted in the state.
“It is on this note that we want to appeal to the party to allow peace reign in the state. I have never seen where two persons are contesting for the same position in the same party. We do not want to experience what transpired in Zamfara and Rivers states on the side of APC.
“We want the NWC to intervene in the matter and allow those they have nominated in their votes to stand in Ebonyi State PDP. All the delegates were picked from the 171 wards of the state. INEC has the list of delegates nominated in the 171 ward. We appeal that if there is any interest playing out, the appeal should be played down in the interest of the party.”
