Gov. Martin Elechi
Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State has said that the crises and divisions in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will rob it of victory in the forth-coming elections.
While describing the wounds on PDP in Ebonyi State as self-inflicted, Elechi said it would adversely affect its chances in the election.
The Governor, who spoke during a state executive committee meeting at the party’s secretariat in Abakaliki, regretted that there were attempts to deter people from attending the meeting wondering how anybody in his right senses would seek to undermine his authorities as the governor elected on the platform of PDP.
Also a prominent governorship aspirant on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in Ebonyi State, Dr. Paul Okorie, has distanced himself from the purported inclusion in the elders committee of the party’s governorship campaign organization saying that his opinion was not sought before announcing his name.
In a chat with journalists in Abakaliki, Dr. Okorie, who is the immediate past state commissioner for Environment, disclosed that “though the governorship candidate of the party and incumbent Deputy Governor, Chief Dave Umahi, has been seeking my support, at no time did I consent to working on the so-called elders committee”.
Okorie said the inclusion of his name among the membership of that committee was a calculated attempt to downplay his reservations over the irregularities that took place during the governorship primaries, stressing that he told the governorship candidate pointedly that he (Okorie) would have congratulated and even worked for him if his victory was genuine and followed due process.
He said: “There is no way my name should be dragged into a committee without my consent; I saw the announcement as a calculated attempt to sweep my grievances over the primaries under the carpet. The deputy governor single-handedly made the list of delegates isolated them in various locations in Enugu, Nkalagu and Abakaliki. There were denied free choice and exercise of their right to assembly”.
Okorie said he was communing with his God and consulting friends and supporters to decide on whether to quit politics or continue participation in the ongoing processes maintaining that promises of juicy appointments or monetary rewards are not enough for him to throw his hard earned reputation and integrity to the dogs.
“For now, I can say I am on a self-imposed spiritual retreat; so my future political journey depends on the outcome of that exercise. I have registered my complaints about the governorship primary election which everybody knows I stand better chances than other contestants. A lot of appeals have been made to me but I have my God, family and friends I respect. They should have the final say on my future,” he stated.
It would be recalled that shortly after the announcement of Umahi as winner of the primary election, Okorie alongside other aspirants, including Senator Offia Nwali, Chief Mike Ude-Umanta, Hon. Hyacinth Ikpor and Prof. Igwe Aja Nwachukwu protested against the processes and its outcome.
However as part of the attempts to reconcile the aggrieved members, Umahi has constituted the governorship aspirants into an elders committee assuring of his preparedness to work with them even as he enjoined them to work as partners in the project of ensuring the victory of PDP in the forthcoming election in the state.
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