Independent Leaders Forum, ILF, a civil society group with the mission to entrench credible leadership in Nigeria, has commended the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, committee, which conducted the ad-hoc ward congress held on Friday, June 11, 2021.
The committee, led by the Deputy Governor of Taraba State, His Excellency Haruna Manu, oversaw the selection of 3 ad-hoc delegates in the 326 wards of Anambra State, ahead of the party’s governorship election primary, slated for Saturday, June 26, 2021.
In a statement signed by Mr OCN Okafor, the President of ILF on Sunday, June 13, 2021, the group stated that the Haruna Manu committee was “thorough and resisted pressures by some LGA Team Leaders to change the results of the Ward Congress elections.”
The ILF noted that despite the generally peaceful nature of the congresses around the state, there were irregularities in Anaocha, Dunukofia, and parts of Njikoka Local Government Areas, a situation that the committee noted.
Highlighting the irregularities in the local government areas, the ILF noted that in Dunukofia LGA, one Andy Modili mobilised thugs, disrupted the congress, and diverted electoral materials to Kings Suite Hotel, Ukpo in Dunukofia LGA.
Similarly, in Anaocha LGA, the team leader, Dr Cyril Nnamuchi, disappeared with election result sheets for the entire 19 wards of Anaocha LGA and had not been seen or heard from at the time of filing this report.
Therefore, the ILF suggested that the committee collate and accept only the results from wards in the 19 LGAs, where congress held, and results were signed by the panel chairman and certified by INEC officials, except Anaocha LGA, and Dunukofia LGA were congress did not hold.
The group further urged His Excellency Haruna Manu and his committee to ensure the completion of the exercise in the said local government area, assuring that the ILF will be commencing legal proceedings if the outcome and wishes of the PDP members at the wards are tampered with.
They further warned that such legal actions would truncate the success of PDP in the Saturday, November 6, 2021, governorship election.
