The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed the Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to conduct all primary elections in the state using only statutory delegates.
As a result, the crisis that the PDP is experiencing in the state has worsened.
INEC had previously declared the party’s three-member ad hoc delegates election on April 30, 2022, and a subsequent rescheduled congress on May 11th invalid.
The commission, in a letter dated May 17, 2022 to the PDP’s National Chairman, obtained by THISDAY in Abuja on Thursday, also voided the party’s one-man delegate election, claiming that no original result sheets were present at any of the congress venues.
The PDP in Imo State was then ordered by INEC, in a letter signed by its acting Secretary, Aminu Idris, to conduct all primary elections using only statutory delegates as provided for in the party’s constitution.
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In response to the news, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, a House of Representatives candidate, said INEC’s decision was a victory for the Imo PDP.
He described it as “a valiant rescue from an impending catastrophic end, as the party would have conducted primary elections using an illegal list of delegates, effectively nullifying the entire process.”
Ugochinyere also expressed sympathy for the state’s over 900 ad hoc delegates, who had lost their chance to vote in the party’s primaries and choose its candidates.
He also accused the party’s National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, of being to blame for the defeat.
As a result, he urged delegates and stakeholders to hold the national secretary accountable for the missed opportunity to vote.
“This situation is a mixed blessing because Imo PDP members can now sleep with both eyes closed because the desperate efforts to foist a fake delegates list on them have ended,” Ugochinyere said.
Only statutory delegates should participate in the party’s primaries in Imo State, according to INEC.”
