PDP Has Directed That Only Elected Party Officials And Elected Adhoc Delegates Vote In The Party’s Upcoming Primary Election
Following Mr. President’s failure to sign the re-amended Electoral Act into law, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has directed that only elected party officials and elected adhoc delegates vote in the party’s upcoming primary election, removing former and sitting elected council Chairmen, councilors, serving members of National and State Assemblies, and others from the delegates list.
The implication is that all elected government officials, including Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Senate President Dr. Ahmed Lawan, Deputy Senate President Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, all members of the National Assembly, state House of Assembly members, and elected council officials, will not participate as delegates and, by extension, will not run for political office in the 2023 general elections.
Some concerned PDP members who spoke to newsmen on the issue of the latest directives by the PDP on the conduct of the party primaries expressed worries that the issues at stake are weighty and could scuttle the exercise if not properly handled.
‘’While some aspirants believed that they now have a lesser number of delegates to deal with, the wider implication is that if one cannot vote as a delegate in the coming primaries on account of the Electoral Act, he too cannot participate as an aspirant or be voted for’’, a source, who pleaded anonymity said.
‘’Recall that most of those seeking elective offices in the 2023 general election is serving political office holders who may be affected by the yet to be signed Electoral Act (as re-amended). The implication is that if the elected councilors, former and serving members of State assemblies who have been penciled down as delegates cannot vote in the coming primaries, it bears no argument that they too cannot be voted for in the primaries.
‘’With just two weeks to the deadline for the conduct of all primaries by the political parties and closure of sales of nomination forms by political parties, many parties may not have candidates for the coming polls. The only thing that can solve the logjam is for My President to sign the Electoral Act into law so the affected office-seekers can participate in the coming polls’’, our source added.
Some councilors in Delta State, who stand the risk of being eliminated from the electoral processes as delegates, are already spoiling for war, threatening to go to court to stop the party from going ahead with the latest guidelines which, they said, will disenfranchise many of them for no fault of theirs.
