The Ebonyi State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has vowed to challenge the purported election held by the Inter-Party Advisory Council in the state on Friday, in court.
The PDP in the state, said it was not notified of the exercise, adding it was surprised when it was called, on Friday, that the election would hold, same day.
The Chairman of the party, in the state, Tochukwu Okorie, stated this in a statement made available to The PUNCH on Saturday. He accused the State Government of hijacking the process.
He equally noted that the said exercise was a sham and grossly fall short of the indices of a credible election.
Okorie said, “On February 1, 2022, I got a call suggesting that the election of executive members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Ebonyi state chapter, was going to be held in Abakaliki on the Friday February 4, 2022. I made effort and got through to the National Organizing Secretary of IPAC, Mr. Wale Martins who confirmed the rumour.
“Notwithstanding, our protestations that the PDP had not been notified of any IPAC elections planned for Ebonyi state, a team from Abuja actually showed up in Abakaliki on Friday and called me to say they were in Abakaliki to conduct IPAC elections. I vehemently opposed the idea on the grounds that PDP was not notified and could not be justifiably excluded from the process.
“We wrote a formal letter to the so-called election committee requesting that the election be suspended or postponed to allow for an inclusive exercise. They however went ahead with some persons that had been randomly selected and planted by the Ebonyi state government purporting to represent various political parties.
“We state unequivocally that the purported election was a sham as it grossly falls short of all indices of a credible election having been hijacked by the state government.
“The purported election of IPAC executives on Friday February 4, 2022 cannot stand and therefore will be vigorously challenged to the highest level in the land.
“The People’s Democratic Party will no longer allow Ebonyi State government to continue to pocket IPAC and use it as an appendage of the APC. This state belongs to all Ebonyians and the government must learn to respect that.”
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