The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Akwa Ibom Chapter, says it will not tolerate any act of violence or tension during its ongoing party congresses/primaries in the state.
The PDP Chairman for Akwa Ibom, Mr Udo Ekpenyong, handed down the party’s position while addressing officers designated to oversee the conduct of the congress on Thursday in Uyo.
He said that the councillorship primaries was prior to the Local Government Areas congresses that would hold on October 3 in the state.
Ekpenyong reminded the party faithful that the PDP in Akwa Ibom had set for itself, a reputation of conducting peaceful, credible and fair nominations, urging them to sustain the reputation.
“As messengers of the party, we are asking you to ensure that everything you do , conform to this present administration’s overall intention to lead a fair, and people-centric processes of nominations.
“Everything that we have done since the commencement of this process have been transparent, fair and credible. As party Chairman, I will ask that you do everything to maintain this posturing,” Ekpeyong said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Correspondent who went round some of the 368 wards where the congresses were conducted, reports that the process was generally peaceful as most of the wards had already adopted consensus candidates.
Also commenting, Mr Aniekan Bassey, the Speaker, Akwa Ibom House of Assembly, in Southern Uruan Ward 2, applauded the leadership and members of PDP in the state for peaceful conduct of the primaries.
The speaker used the occasion to donate a parcel of land for the councillorship candidate to build and live among his people.
He said that the nomination form for the election was purchased by members of the community, and therefore placed an obligation on the candidate to touch lives of members of the community once he was voted into office.
“The candidate did not spend any money. He was sponsored by the community, please try and touch lives, especially the women. Set a good example by building in the village.
“Do your best for your people, there is so much in government to go round, so there is no point fighting,” he advised.
The speaker advised the generality of Akwa Ibom youths to eschew violence and conduct themselves peacefully throughout the exercise.
He tasked well meaning members of communities across the state to promptly intervene as he had done on areas where tension might be perceived.
“Like the Southern Uruan Ward 6, I was able to meet the stakeholders and aspirants this morning, we had to come up with a consensus candidate.
“All the grey areas were sorted out and the aspirants unanimously adopted one of them as a sole candidate for this election,” he said.
The primaries which were conducted in line with COVID-19 protocols, ended earlier in some local government areas, depending on when materials arrived in such wards and the method adopted by the people.(NAN)
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