2nd November, 2014
Okafor Ofiebor\Port Harcourt
The chairman Rivers state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Felix Obuah has expressed joy and satisfaction over the peaceful and successful conduct of ward congresses in the 319 wards of the state.
The PDP chairman also commended party members for peacefully turning out en-masse to vote delegates of their choice during the ward congresses held on Saturday 1 November 2014.
He said the successful and peaceful conduct of the ward congresses has proved the party right that those who were calling for the postponement of the ward congresses are agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who are moles in the PDP, acting out the script of their pay master and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
He assured that the PDP would win all elections in Rivers state. The chairman of the Rivers state ward congresses, Dr Yakubo Gambo who had earlier distributed election materials to electoral officers for the 319 wards of the state expressed satisfaction with the peaceful and successful conduct of the ward congresses, commending Obuah of a job well done.
The congresses were peaceful in all the 319 wards in Rivers state.
The Rivers state PDP governorship aspirant and former Minister of State for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike voted in ward 9 of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area while Obuah voted at ward 4 of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers state.
The election of special ward delegates is a mandatory provision of the PDP constitution in addition to statutory delegates.
Meanwhile, Prince Tonye Princewill, one of 16 governorship candidates who boycotted the congress called for its cancellation.
Princewill while resounding his commitment to the success and re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan, wants the National PDP executives to avoid anything that will distract Mr. President and resolve the problems in Rivers state PDP before it gets out of hand.
“The congress has already been done. The panel has already been settled and the electoral umpire has already been compromised. All their planning was in vain. For them the congress was just an opportunity for the masses to fight and destroy things. They do not care if Rivers people die as long as they win. We do. We care; and that’s why we stayed clear.”
“The Rivers state Nyesom Wike-led PDP Exco, don’t realize we are several steps ahead of them; none of the key aspirants were involved in the congresses. That should be a signal for the party. Our silence will speak louder than our words. In the end, PDP will either sit up and address this sham or they will loose us and loose Rivers state. Nothing is impossible,” Princewill warned.
Princewill who was the governorship candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria in 2007 and crown Prince of Amanayabo of Kalabari noted that: “Neither Amaechi nor Wike will deliver Rivers state because even the grass will reject them. It’s time to start afresh. It’s time for renewal. And all of their money and more will never change that.
On Saturday, the 16 governorship aspirants called for a postponement of the congresses because of what they regarded as planned script by the wife of the president, Patience Jonathan, to impose Wike and jettison the rotation of power between the upland and riverine people of the state.