Sixteen aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants and 2,100 delegate-aspirants in Rivers State have said they will shun the appeal panel set up by the national headquarters of the party to examine the complaints arising from last Saturday’s ward congress.
Allegations of irregularity marred the congress in most wards.
The aggrieved aspirants alleged that the three-man appeal panel are cronies of former Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, who is also a PDP governorship aspirant.
They alleged that the panel members – Afam Okeke (Chairman), Ferdinand Ibezim (Secretary) and Lambert Oparah (member) – are Wike’s aides.
A governorship aspirant, Nimi Walson-Jack, who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on the decision of the aggrieved aspirants, described the appeal panel as a sham, adding that nobody would appear before it.
“The appeal panel will listen to appeals from those who set it up. It is clear from the characters of those selected for the appeal panel that it has been compromised from the onset.
“We, the group of 16 governors acting under the coalition of governorship aspirants, do not have any iota of confidence in the so-called appeal panel. We will have nothing to do with it. We will not and cannot give legitimacy to a sham. Let them regale themselves with the premeditated charade they have since designed for the interest of an aspirant against the collective interest and electoral fortune of our party,” he stated.
Another aspirant, Prince Tonye Princewill, told reporters in Port Harcourt, yesterday, that the “state chapter of the PDP does not have a properly constituted executive committee in all the wards and local government areas”.
