The Primaries Election Committee of the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s faction of the Peoples Democratic Party has insisted that it would conduct a fresh one for the September 10 governorship election in Edo State.
The Chairman of the committee, Ebenezer Alabi, confirmed to newsman in Benin on Monday that the primary would hold on Wednesday.
Alabi said Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who emerged as the party’s candidate in the primary conducted on June 20, did so through a National Caretaker Committee that was not backed by PDP’s Constitution.
He said the Independent National Electoral Commission would supervise the exercise.
Alabi, former Chairman of PDP in Ondo State, said the court rulings so far on the leadership issue in the party gave Sheriff the powers to produce the authentic governorship candidate for the Edo State poll.
He stressed that due process had to be followed to avoid fielding a candidate who, according to him, emerged through an illegal caretaker committee led by Ahmed Makarfi.
He said: “The leadership of our party under Senator Ali Modu Sheriff invoked section 31, sub-section 2E of the Constitution of PDP by suspending the state Executive of the PDP in Edo.
“The executive, led by Chief Dan Orbih, was suspended for three months and replaced by a seven-member committee to superintend over the affairs of the PDP in Edo.
“We are holding our governorship primary on Wednesday and the purpose of the primary is to conform to the ruling of the court.
“You are aware that a lot of our members are in court as to who is the authentic leader of PDP in Nigeria because of the aborted convention we had in Port Harcourt.”
Alabi added that the court “has made pronouncements.
“We are a democratic party and I believe we must follow the law.
“The court made orders that the position of the National Chairman, National Secretary and National Auditor are not vacant that they have powers to hold such offices until 2018.
“Apart from that, there is a court ruling in Abuja that actually said the tenure of Modu Sheriff ends in 2017.
“In spite of these rulings, some members of our party went to Port Harcourt and elected caretaker committee to run the affairs of the party.
“Today, we are faced with the problem of who is the authentic person that can sign a valid nomination to INEC; presently, the court ceded that power to Ali Modu Sheriff.
“So, if we want to have a valid candidate for the election in Edo State, we must do something proper to carry out the order of the court.
“And that is why we are here to comply with the order of the law and ensure that we have a proper candidate for our party in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo.”
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