CR Bye-Election: PDP Aspirants Allege Plots To Manipulate Delegates’ List

Aspirants under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming bye-election for Cross River north senatorial seat have alleged that plots were underway to manipulate the processes, saying there is skewed selection of ad hoc delegates and injections of unqualified names as statutory delegates as well as removal of qualified persons from the delegate list.

The aspirants, including Rt. Hon. Jarigbe Agom Jarigb, representing Ogoja/Yala federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Chief Mrs. Martina Odom, Dr. Mrs. Mary Eru Iji and Rt. Hon. Barr Ogana N. Lukpata, had on Wednesday sent a letter to the National Chairman, Chief Uche Secondus over the matter.


In the letter, titled ‘protest against the skewed process for the senatorial primary election for Cross River Northern senatorial by-election,’ and dated September 1, 2020, the four aspirants, out of five in the race for PDP primary election slated for Saturday, September 5, 2020, demanded that “the NWC reconstitute both the primary election and appeal panels and give and should give us equal opportunity to make inputs so as to create a level playing ground.”

The aspirants decried an alleged exclusion of those they described as “already-ratified and legitimately inaugurated ward and chapter executives” from participating in the forthcoming exercise, adding that such move was intended to give undue advantage to a favoured aspirant over and above the rest of them.



Commending the NWC for the successful conduct of and eventual ratification of the ward and chapter executive congresses, the aggrieved aspirants expressed worry at what they saw as an attempt to deliberately manipulate the other remaining critical processes leading to the eventual primary election.

According to them, the purported list of adhoc and statutory delegates being displayed by the state exco was “totally against the provisions of our party constitution as stated in S.25(1)(a-r) and S.25(7), as amended in 2017, as well as against S.8 (i-xix) and S.9(iii) dealing with the electoral guidelines for primary election.”

The further said that the primary election and appeal panels were all constituted of nominees of the sponsor of a favoured aspirant and that with what was playing out “the primary election cannot be free and fair as we cannot get justice if such is allowed to stand.”

They also want the NWC to include the already ratified and inaugurated ward, chapter and other delegates as required by the party’s constitution just as the consensus building should accommodate all aspirants and their interests, and insisted that the defective list of statutory delegates already published should be purged of its alleged numerous irregularities.

On the issue of consensus candidate, they averred that they were not against it but maintained that consensus would need bringing all the aspirants into the picture, saying it amounts to shaving someone heads in his absence if done otherwise. They therefore advocated for inclusive, peaceful and transparent processes.

Meanwhile, a release, signed by the National Organizing Secretary of the party, Austin Akobundu (rted) and made available to our reporter, indicated that the state constituencies’ primaries would be held at a venue inside the state constituency in Ogoja.