Senate Minority Leader and governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, Enyinnaya Abaribe, says he would not be participating in the primary of the party scheduled for Wednesday in the state.
In a statement Wednesday morning, he hinged his withdrawal from the exercise on “shambolic process” and alleged “use of only imaginary 3-man Adhoc delegates” by the party’s leadership.
He said: “The last couple of weeks have been tortuous as we battled hard to navigate our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) away from a self-destructive path. The essence was to create an unfettered democratic space and a level playing field for all aspirants vying for all elective offices in the state, to participate equally in the primary elections,” the statement reads.
“That was not the case and of course what we are witnessing is a shambolic process driven by a procured court injunction. To make matters worse, the use of only imaginary 3-man Adhoc delegates to the exclusion of the party’s statutory delegates in the primary elections to elect our candidates even when INEC the nation’s electoral umpire, has unequivocally stated that no congress held in Abia State for that purpose, has no doubt put the party and her candidates in a quagmire.
He added: “Unfortunately, the ugly developments ignited by a rapacious ambition to maintain the wicked governance status quo of imposition and godfatherism have aborted this quest in PDP.
“Accordingly, Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe will not be part of this charade. I am therefore withdrawing from the exercise, which means that I will not be part of the PDP governorship primary election that holds in Abia State on Wednesday 25th of May, 2022 as doing so would have amounted to an endorsement of illegality that is already being challenged in the courts.”
