From Victor Nwegede, Abakaliki
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The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP said on Sunday it will not tolerate any omission by the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission, EBSIEC that can jeopardize the forthcoming council elections in Ebonyi State.
Ebonyi PDP Chairman, Prince Tochukwu Okorie.
The PDP Chairman in Ebonyi State, Prince Tochukwu Okorie made this statement while addressing Journalists on the outcome of his party's primaries for the upcoming council polls.
He said: "Today we had primary elections across the wards and local government areas, for the forthcoming council elections, the EBSIEC organized elections. So, far so good, it has ended and we are collating results.
"I know that candidates have emerged across the local government areas in the state. We have candidates in both local government Chairmanship and ward councillorship positions."
Speaking on the preparedness of the PDP to ensure its candidates emerged winners at the July 30 council polls, Okorie said: "No matter
how confident I am, the bottom line is that we are going to raise alarm any time we see omission by EBSIEC that will jeopardize the credible conduct of the election."
He said that the PDP as a member of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC would not deviate from the council's decision of boycotting the forthcoming local government elections if EBSIEC did not remove the outrageous fees for the candidates' nomination forms.
"PDP is part of IPAC, just like APC is also part of IPAC. If IPAC said something, it was all the parties' decision. Having said that, I think that it's outrageous on the side of the nomination form for the candidates. One million Naira (N1m) for Local Government Chairmanship candidate and two hundred thousand Naira (N200,000) for the ward councillorship candidates are outrageous. I'm of the view that EBSIEC should review that," he said.
The Chairman admitted notwithstanding the PDP crises, that "the PDP is the party to beat even if It's one person remains in the party."
He said "the 30 days notice of the election, is just inadequate" and suggested that the EBSIEC should consider shifting the election.
