A ward congress organised by the Peoples Democratic (PDP) to elect delegates for the party’s September 3 governorship primaries has created tension in Bayelsa State.
A PDP Youth Group (PYG) accused the camp of a major aspirant and former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe and other aspirants of sponsoring thugs to disrupt the ward congresses.
The group said that Alaibe’s camp was trying to cause commotion to disrupt the planned congresses and stop it from holding.
The Chairman of the group, Lionel Ebilade, said that Alaibe and a few aspirants opted to disrupt the exercise following their realisation that they lacked the grassroots support to win any contest.
He alleged that one Barnabas Edure was to execute the plot in Sagbama; Chief Rufus Abadi and Tiwe Oruminighe in Southern Ijaw and Senator Amange in Brass Constituency.
Ebilade alleged that Alaibe and the other aspirants intended to oppose the smooth conduct of the ward delegate congresses with the intent to force the National leadership of the party to conduct the September 3 primaries with only statutory delegates.
He said that his group was concerned with the issue of the smooth process for the delegate election because of the need for the best and most popular candidate to fly the party’s flag after a credible, free and fair contest.
Ebilade said that the group had alerted security agencies of the plot and urged them to be alive to their responsibilities.
He urged security agencies to ensure the arrest of anybody with unauthorized arms and ammunition and any dangerous weapon within the vicinity of the venue of the Congress.
While the camp of Alaibe denied the allegations, it was gathered that Edure, Abadi, Oruminighe, Amange and other party leaders from Alaibe’s camp staged a protest to the PDP Ward Congress Committee led by the Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa.
The protesters claimed that they were not involved in the process of appointing the electoral officers for the congresses, alleging that there were plans to shortchange them.
Orunimighe said: “There are processes the conduct of the PDP congress usually take. The party will agree with them and we go to our communities and bring results. But to our dismay, the committee has not addressed us.”
Also the Chief Timi Alaibe Campaign Organisation in a statement by its Administrative Secretary, Prof. Seifa Brisibe, further complained that the congress committee refused to grant aspirants access to the list of electoral officers.
But Umahi and his committee members, who received the protesters, dismissed all their allegations and addressed their concerns saying the committee conducted its business within the party’s constitution.
He said contrary to their claims, the committee on its arrival met with the aspirants and proceeded to hold a separate meeting with the party members at the state secretariat of the PDP.
He recalled that during the meeting, the committee requested for complaints but none of the party members raised an objection adding that after the meeting, the committee declared the exercise open.
Umahi said: “Thank you for coming peacefully to register your grievances. PDP is one family and what you have done is the right to do.
“Members of this committee are men and women of integrity and nothing will manipulate the process in favour of anybody.
“The process started on Thursday with the meeting of all the aspirants. And we asked the aspirants to tell us all their problems.
“They told us their problems including this issue of electoral officers. We all agreed that the process should start on Thursday and be concluded on Friday.
“So, anybody suggesting that the process be aborted is not suggesting the right pathway because we have already agreed with the aspirants that the process should be started and concluded on Friday.
“When we finished with the aspirants, we also addressed the party people and requested for complaints from the party people. But there were no complaints. So, it is not true that we didn’t meet with the party people.
“Without prejudice to our rights to appoint electoral officer. We asked the aspirants to tell us how the electoral officers in the last were appointed.
“All of them said it was the duty of the party leadership to give list of EOs. The process is very clear on how these things are being done”.
