Rivers PDP crisis: Jonathan to meet aggrieved aspirant Okafor (Abuja), Daniel Abia (P/Harcourt) and Idongesit Ashameri (Uyo) President Goodluck Jonathan may have taken a time-saving step to solve the crisis that has engulfed the Rivers State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over who emerges as candidate for the governorship and other electoral positions in the party. The meeting, which a source disclosed to Sunday Independent is scheduled to hold in Bayelsa State, is seen as an intervention from the presidency to save the PDP from losing in the coming elections through protest votes to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Although time has not been fixed for the meeting (which is to hold soon), our source explained that the President will invite the aggrieved governorship aspirants in the state to the meeting to know whether they have a genuine case and why sixteen of them have jointly protested against the governorship ambition of former Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike. Professor Israel Owate, leader of the Mainstream Coalition, an umbrella group of the sixteen aspirants is scheduled to be at the meeting with the President. It is however not yet clear whether a decision would be taken by the leader of the party as to whom the PDP may choose as its candidate from that meeting. It will be recalled that last Thursday in a rally at the Liberation stadium, Port Harcourt, sixteen aspirants on the platform of the party called on the national working committee of the PDP and the chairman, Adamu Mua’zu to stop Wike from hijacking the structure of the party to advance his gubernatorial ambition. The aspirants also boycotted the ward congress conducted by the leadership of the party to produce two members each that would participate in the governorship primary to be held in the later date. Campaign Organizations of the sixteen aspirants had noted that the processes leading to the ward delegates’ elections which was held on Saturday was fraudulent and staged a boycott. In a statement issued on Saturday, the aspirants observed that they have been deceived into believing that there would be a level playing field for all the party, but said, “We note that the process leading up to the ward delegate elections, which is the foundation of all subsequent primaries, is clearly convoluted and flawed and cannot therefore produce an acceptable outcome. Giving reasons for the boycott, they stated that, “Our party, the PDP, has breached the procedures that should lead to the ward congresses which include: open registration of members and authentication of the party registers at ward level and display of party register as stipulated in the party constitution. “It is on record that our members were assaulted by thugs of a governorship aspirant and the ugly incident was widely reported in the mass media. It is unfortunate that nothing has been done about this date”. The statement further alleged that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan had publicly (not in her house but in the house of one of the aspirants) endorsed an aspirant (Nyesom Wike), adding that she had approached some of the aspirants to step down and even invited them to a dinner/meeting in the presidential villa. “We have constrained ourselves from addressing the interference of the First lady in the affairs of the Rivers State PDP because of the enormous respect we have for our son, President Jonathan, but we want to say that enough is enough.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 20:46:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015