In view of the two judgments of the court served on the the Peoples Democratic Party and the National Working Committee (NWC), the party has discarded the use of the three-man ad-hoc delegates for the election of its governorship candidate in the November 6 election.
Rather, it has adopted an automatic delegate system for the election, which are members of the statutory delegates as approved by the PDP constitution.
It also dissolved all the executive committees of the party in Anambra State.
Meanwhile, the PDP has approved the appointment of the Governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom as the Chairman of the Anambra State PDP congress committee.
Other members of the committee are Bauchi State Governor, Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, Rt. Hon. George Kaika, Hajiya Habiba, Muhammed Deen as members and the Deputy governor of Edo State, Hon. Philip Shaibu as Secretary.
In a statement yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said that acting “on behalf of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and pursuant to Section 29(2)(b) of the PDP Constitution (2017 as amended) hereby dissolves all the executives in our Anambra State chapter.
By implication, all the three-man delegates elected on June 9 and 17, 2021, will not participate in the June 26 congress to elect the governorship candidate of the PDP today.
However, Ologbondiyan said, “our processes towards electing a candidate for the purpose of the November 6, 2021 Anambra governorship election subsist.
“Our processes continue as we adopt a lawful process of allowing our eligible automatic delegates to carry out the responsibilities of electing our candidate for the governorship election,” the party explained .
Accordingly, the PDP said, “the governorship primary to elect our candidate for the Anambra governorship election holds as scheduled on Saturday, June 26, 2021.”
The PDP directed the South East Zonal Caretaker Committee of the party to oversee and manage the affairs of the activities of the Anambra State chapter of the party, pending when new executives will be elected for the state.
It further said, “All governorship aspirants on the platform of our party, leaders, critical stakeholders, teeming members and, supporters of our party as well as the people of Anambra State are guided accordingly.”
This was as a result of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama that had on Wednesday dismissed three applications filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and two others seeking to stay the court’s June 9 judgment sacking the party’s Executive Council (EXCO) in Anambra State.
Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, in a ruling on Wednesday, held that the three applicants – the PDP, Chief Ndubisi Nwobu and Mr. Uchenna Obiora – failed to make out a case to warrant the grant of their application that sought to stay the judgment pending the determination of the appeal.
Justice Adeniyi, who came down hard on the applicants for earlier denigrating the court in their reaction to the judgment, held that they did not show that the non-staying of the judgment would either render their appeals nugatory or make it impossible for the party to conduct its primary for the forthcoming governorship election.
The judge voided all the activities engaged in by the party since June 9 when the judgment was delivered, including the elections it conducted on June 10 and 11 to elect a three-man ad-hoc ward delegate that would participate in the voting at the primary of the PDP scheduled for June 26, 2021.
Justice Adeniyi said the statement made on June 9, by the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP Anambra in which he disparaged the court and its judgment was an affront to the court, adding that they do not expect a court they have insulted to grant them an indulgence.
