PDP Aspirants Protest Disqualification from Primaries

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James Sowole in Akure

The crisis in the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continued on Monday as some of the party’s aspirants to the state House of Assembly protested their disqualification from participating in the primaries by a screening committee from the national secretariat.

The aspirants, who alleged that the screening committee had been compromised, said they were disqualified for spurious reasons in order to pave the way for some people, who were not known to the constitution of the party.

Addressing journalists, the secretary of the group called “PDP House of Assembly Aspirants Forum”, Adegunloye Adewusi, said spurious allegations such as non-payment of tax, none-provision of NYSC certificates and non-payment of party dues that were given as reasons for their disqualification were not acceptable.

Adewusi, who said they possessed the relevant requirements to enable them participate in the party’s primary cited the case of one of them who possessed Ordinary National Diploma (OND) but was disqualified for not having NYSC Discharge Certificate.

“How can somebody who tendered OND certificate get NYSC discharge certificate or the case of somebody, who gave them evidence of tax clearance and party’s monthly due card but was disqualified, this is fraud that we cannot accept”, Adewusi stated.

Buttressing the position of the aggrieved aspirants, the PDP, which had been polarised, alleged that members of the new PDP and agents of government hijacked both the screening and appeal committees.

The party, in a statement signed by the Director of Publicity in the state, Ayo Fadaka, accused the agent of the state government of influencing the committee members.

Fadaka therefore called on the” National Secretariat to cancel the reports of the two committees and send fresh people to Ondo State to screen the aspirants in the interest of the party.

He alleged that after the committee members were taken “out of circulation and induced expectedly, their report disqualified all original members of the party for sundry and untenable reasons which include the failure of an OND holder to supply his NYSC discharge certificate.

“This attitude is cheap and designed to remove from contention all those who have contributed immensely to the growth of the party from contention to favour cronies who decamped into the PDP,” he added.

Condemning the action of the screening committee and the appeal committee, Adewusi alleged that all the old PDP aspirants were disqualified, while all the new PDP aspirants, who did not even fulfill party’s membership requirements as contained in the provisions of party’s Part Six Section 32 of the electoral guidelines for primary election.

Adewusi said the names of those cleared from the new PDP were not in the party register, they do not have party cards and had yet to spend two years as registered members of the party as stipulated in Section 32 sub section I and J of the party’s guideline.

“We will refuse any attempt to disqualify us on spurious reasons to prevent from the primaries. We dissociate ourselves from the report of the screening committee because they have been compromised by not taking into consideration the requirement of the electoral guideline”, he said.

Source: thisdaylive.com