Akwa Ibom State Chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has distance self from alleged claims by aspirants to political offices that were preferred candidates of the State Governor and State party Chairman, saying “This infantile and most ineffective campaign strategy is very archaic, mundane and must be condemned by all persons of rational thinking.”
In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, the party said “Governor Udom Emmanuel, as the leader of our party has maintained at several public and private occasions that he does not have preferred candidates and that as the father of all, he must be seen to be fair to all. The state Party Chairman, Obong Paul Ekpo has also stated that all candidates of the party shall emerge from free, fair and credible nomination congresses. This is in line with the strategic report implementation framework where party leaders and administrators had committed avowedly to the full entrenchment of internal democracy. Any attempt to jeopardize that commitment will lead to an unpleasant exhumation of the carcass of vices long exorcised and buried.”
“When the time is ripe, various caucuses of the party will as tradition demands attempt to facilitate a ‘consensus ad idem’ among the contestants and where that fails, indirect primaries will be the obvious recourse . This consensus attempts must be voluntary not coercive, deliberative not handed down and most importantly, must represent the wishes of majority of the people of the constituencies, aligning with the extant zoning principle there,” the statement explained.
The statement also urged “all delegates and stakeholders to assess each candidate on his/her positive delivery capacity, not with the fear of intimidation or the greed of inducement. The party, under the leadership of Obong Paul Ekpo, has said before and will continue to say that a level play field for aspirants is the minimum standard offered.”