BY NATIONAL PANEL REPORTERS
Mr Silas Onu, the embattled factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Ebonyi has expressed concern on what he described as the most ridiculous letter ever written by any political party manager, leading to the cancellation of the just conducted primaries in the state under his watch.
The PDP national leadership has written a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and informed the electoral umpire of the authenticity of Mr Tochukwu Okorie as its Chairman in the state.
The PDP national working committee also cancelled all the primaries conducted in the state under the watch of Silas Onu, inciting the court order which authenticated the chairmanship of Mr Tochukwu Okorie to pilot the affairs of the party in the state, including the said cancelled primaries.
Onu even though, later got the information about the cancellation of the primary elections for the members of the State and National Assemblies, and governorship aspirants dismissed the announcement as not being reliable.
The primary elections were, however, conducted under his watch, which led to the emergence of party flag bearers amid the cancellation saga and boycotting of the exercise by some aspirants following alleged irregularities.
The primary elections conducted under Onu's watch have been cancelled by the National working committee through its letter addressed to the INEC, assuring the provision of a new date soon, while referring to Okorie as the recognised PDP chairman in the state, according to the court order.
But Onu adjudged the approaches adopted by his party's national working committee as ridiculous and holds no weight.
Citing the letter by the PDP national working committee to the INEC, Onu observed that, "it says many things about the signatories, foremost of which are: The signatories have exposed their interest in the outcome of the primary elections."
He declared that "the signatories have exhibited their ignorance of laws governing elections in Nigeria as PDP lacks power under its Constitution and Guidelines to cancel a primary election duly fixed and conducted."
In his rationale, Onu recalled that "Section 84 (14) of the Electoral Act, 2022 permits only aspirants who participated in a primary election to approach the Federal High Court where they believe that the Party Constitution, Guidelines or the provisions of the Electoral Act have not been complied with."
He further argued that "INEC does not monitor the same primary election twice unless a competent Court (Federal High Court) annuls such an election."
He noted that "the winner of the Ebonyi State Gubernatorial primary election has already approached the Court to challenge the illegal, obnoxious and distasteful attempt to foist illegality on the party via an illegal cancellation of the primary election.
"The only time a political party has control over the conduct of any of its elections is before the election is held - the party can POSTPONE by notifying INEC.
"So, anyone hoping on impossibility should begin to get themselves back to the path of rationality."
