The People’s Democratic party (PDP) Ebonyi state chapter Saturday faulted the elections of the Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC) held on Friday in Abakaliki.
Ebonyi state Chairman of PDP, Tochukwu Okorie, in a statement made available to journalists in Abakaliki disclosed that the exercise failed short of all indices of a credible election especially as it was alleged to have been hijacked by the state government.
Mr Okorie who regretted that after writing to the electorial committee on the abnormalities noticed before the election, said, “they went on to plant the moles appointed by the state government to take over leadership of IPAC.”
He however stated the readiness of PDP to challenge the elections.
The statement reads, “On February 1, 2022, I got a call suggesting that the election of executive members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Ebonyi state chapter, was going to be held in Abakaliki on the Friday February 4, 2022. I made effort and got through to the National Organising Secretary of IPAC, Mr. Wale Martins, who confirmed the rumour.
“Notwithstanding our protestations that the PDP had not been notified of any IPAC elections planned for Ebonyi state, a team from Abuja actually showed up in Abakaliki on Friday and called me to say they were in Abakaliki to conduct IPAC elections. I vehemently opposed the idea on the grounds that PDP was not notified and could not be justifiably excluded from the process.
“We wrote a formal letter to the so-called election committee requesting that the election be suspended or postponed to allow for an inclusive exercise. They however went ahead with some persons that had been randomly selected and planted by the Ebonyi state government purporting to represent various political parties.
“We state unequivocally that the purported election was a sham as it grossly falls short of all indices of a credible election having been hijacked by the state government.
“The purported election of IPAC executives on Friday February 4, 2022 cannot stand and therefore will be vigorously challenged to the highest level in the land. The Peoples Democratic Party will no longer allow Ebonyi state government to continue to pocket IPAC and use it as an appendage of the APC. This state belongs to all Ebonyians and the government must learn to respect that.”
