Alleged he’s a mole in PDP
Insist Edevbie’s name be submitted to INEC
BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Aggrieved members of the People’s Democratic Party in Delta State stormed the party’s National Secretariat on Wednesday demanding for the resignation of the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, over his alleged inability to resolve the gubernatorial candidate crisis in the state.
The protesters, who are the party’s supporters under the aegis of ‘Concerned Deltans for Good Governance’, are apparently disturbed by the on-going crisis in the party over its 2023 governorship ticket in the state.
They alleged that Ayu willfully refused to act on the judgment of the Federal High Court, which sacked Sheriff Oborevwori as the PDP governorship candidate and affirmed David Edevbie as the validly elected governorship candidate of the PDP in the state ahead of the 2023 election.
They insisted that Edevbie is the rightful candidate whose name must be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The leader of the protesters, Chris Anthony, told reporters that the PDP chairman was playing games by refusing to forward the name of Edevbie to the electoral body, which he pointed out, had acknowledged the judgment affirming Edevbie as the candidate.
He accused Ayu of incompetence, as he wondered how he could lead a political party that wants to govern the whole country when he is unable to resolve a state crisis.
The protest leader alleged that Ayu is a mole in the PDP as he is allegedly working for the failure of the party.
He therefore called for Ayu’s resignation, as according to him, the party boss lacked the capacity to lead the main opposition party.
He said, “There’s a burning issue in Delta State, and it’s about who is the rightful candidate of the PDP in the state.
“Everyone knows that the PDP in Delta is the majority party, but with the action of the national chairman of the party, we are beginning to be convinced that Ayu is a mole in the party to trade the fortunes of the party to the opposition.
“We have seen Ayu not just as a mole, but also as an actor playing the script written by the opposition to actualise the emergence of an APC governor in Delta State.
“Ayu lacks the capacity to lead the PDP and so should honourably resign, because he has demonstrated gross incompetence in handling the affairs of the party. He should resign. Ayu should resign, because he cannot manage the affairs of the party well.
“We are talking about defending the democracy that thrives on the rule of law, but Ayu has willfully refused to obey a simple court judgment,” he added.
Recall that Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Abuja High Court on Thursday, July 7, 2022, disqualified Oborevwori as the candidate of the Delta PDP for the 2023 governorship election.
Justice Taiwo also directed the party to forward Edevbie’s name to INEC, as he ordered the electoral body to accord him the full rights and privileges due to him as the party’s rightful governorship candidate.
In the judgment, the judge agreed with the plaintiff that Oborevwori ought not to be on the ballot for the 2023 governorship election for the PDP on account of allegedly supplying false and forged documents to the electoral body so as to aid his qualification for the governorship election.
But in what looked like a conflicting judgement, the Federal High Court in Warri last Friday validated the primary election that produced Oborevwori as the governorship candidate of the PDP.
In the judgement delivered by Okon Abang, the court declared that the PDP’s primary election which was held on May 25 was validly conducted in line with the party’s constitution and election guidelines.
Oborevwori who is the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly emerged the governorship candidate of the PDP in the May 25 primary election of the PDP held at the Stephen Keshi Stadium after he polled 590 out of 821 valid votes from the 25 local government areas of the state.
However, Edevbie, a former Commissioner of Finance under former Governor James Ibori, who came second in the primary where he polled 113 votes, had contended Oborevwori’s participation in the primary on the grounds of alleged discrepancies in his academic qualifications as well as his age.
He specifically urged the court to bar PDP from submitting Oborevwori’s name as the flag bearer of the party.
