A group, the Concerned Citizens of Obubra Local Government in Cross Rivers State, has petitioned the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, and other organs of the party to investigate the alleged fake credentials presented by the PDP candidate for the Obubra/Etung Federal House of Representatives, Friday Okpechi.
The request was contained in the statement titled, ‘Request for the immediate resignation of Mr Friday Gabriel Okpechi as PDP candidate in the Obubra/Etung Federal House of Representatives election,’ which was made available to The PUNCH on Thursday.
The leader of the group, James Abeng, in the letter addressed to Ayu and signed by 10 executive committee members asked Okpechi to resign or the party would risk no representation in the election.
He added that Okpechi is currently standing trial before a Chief Magistrate’s Court, Obubra, for having and making use of a forged First School Leaving Certificate which was one of the documents he presented for clearance to contest in the concluded party primaries that he won.
It partly read, “We have chosen to make our letter public for your urgent attention. Our collective objective is to use this medium to warn you and the party of the impending danger and doom our great party will face in the coming general elections if Mr Friday Okpechi is allowed to represent the party in the election slated for February 25, 2023.
“Okpechi had during his clearance for the party primaries that held on May 23, 2022, allegedly presented forged documents, and also allegedly lied on oath, and these allegations, if proven to be true, are infringements on the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 which if not duly investigated may cost our party the seat of the member representative Obubra/Etung Federal Constituency in the coming election.”
According to the statement, another member of the group, Florence Okpechi, said, “We have worked too hard to lose out at this point and therefore urge you to intervene immediately and ensure that a solution permissible under the new Electoral Act is provided otherwise our people would have lost out even before a ballot is cast.”
