A group in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has joined forces to criticize the calls for only the 3-man Ad-hoc delegates to vote in the forthcoming primaries.
The group fumed that the leadership of the party should tread with caution to avoid decisions that may tantamount to commotion and failure to produce viable candidates in the general elections.
“In the case of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) to use only the three-man ad-hoc delegates for the state congresses/primary elections and only the 774 national delegates for the national convention and presidential primary election readily offends the provisions of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017), especially as it concerns quorums.
“Article 25 of the PDP Constitution provides that quorum for a State Congress shall be two-thirds of the members of the State Congress, while Part 10 Article 6 provides that the quorum for a National Convention shall be two-thirds of the members of the Convention.
“Three-man ad-hoc delegates for the State Convention and 774 national delegates for the National Convention fall far short of the quorum stipulated in the PDP Constitution. In the case of Enugu State, well over 2,500 delegates constitute the State Congress, while the ad-hoc delegates are only 780. This is way below the two-thirds stipulated by the PDP Constitution as amended.”
The group further indented that Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that:
“A political party that adopts the system of indirect primaries for the choice of its candidate shall clearly outline in its constitution and rule the procedure for the democratic election of delegates to vote at the convention, congress or meeting.
“By the provisions of the Electoral Act as quoted above, it means that only the elected party executive members that will vote at the party primaries. The elected delegates in the PDP are: National Working Committee members, Zonal Party Executive members, State Working Committee members, LGA Party Executive members, five Ward Party Executive members (Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Women and Youth Leaders as well as the three ad hoc delegates from each Ward.
“Some people want to give blanket interpretation to Electoral Act in order to exclude all other delegates aside the ad hoc delegates. Any attempt to unlawfully exclude any of the qualified delegates will spell doom for the party.
“Those who want to use only ad-hoc delegates to vote at the party primaries should be ready to go to court as the delegates will sue the PDP to nullify the elections.
“Already, delegates are collating signatures in Delta State in preparation for any eventuality. The Electoral Act is very clear on who is qualified to vote.
“Some persons are planning to take advantage of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 to unlawfully disenfranchised many delegates who they feel will not do their bidding.
“If these selfish party stalwarts temper with the clear provisions of the Act then PDP will loose Delta State to the opposition in 2023.
“We hope that these political players know the dangerous implications of their evil plan to impose candidate on the people”, the statement ended.
