After eight officers of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP were abducted by gunmen in Edo, the party nullified its delegate election in the state.
The incident occurred on Sunday during the party’s ward delegate congress, which was held to select delegates for the upcoming state congress scheduled for February 22nd.
The PDP state chairman, Mr Tony Aziegbemi, said the decision to cancel the election in Etsako Central was made by the Governor of Enugu, Peter Mbah, who led the five-man ward delegates congress committee.
Aziegbemi said: “We had one ugly incident during the Sunday ward delegates congress in the state. Eight electoral officials deployed to the Etsako Central local government area were abducted by gunmen at Jattu in the Etsako West local government area.
“Despite the incident, the exercise went on smoothly in the other 17 local government areas.
“Meanwhile, the ward delegates congress committee led by the Governor of Enugu State, Barrister Peter Mbah, has cancelled the result of the ward congress in Etsako central local government as a result of the kidnapping incident.
“In their wisdom, they decided to cancel the outcome because the result in the locality will not affect the result of the other 17 local governments.”
He also corroborated that the abducted officials are still being held captive adding that Governor Godwin Obaseki has reported the incident to the relevant authorities, including the state Commissioner of Police, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, and the Inspector-General of Police.
Meanwhile, the party is facing an internal challenge from nine aggrieved governorship aspirants who have protested the conduct of the delegate election.
Mr Aziegbemi acknowledged their right to protest but urged them to channel their grievances through the proper channels, such as the Appeal panel set up by the party’s National Working Committee.
The Chairman said the party leadership would remain committed to transparency and fairness; urging all members to abstain from making public statements that could weaken the party’s virtue in the State.
