Tension has reached its peak in Delta State over the release of dates and fees for local government areas primaries of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Those jostling to contest the forthcoming council poll on the platform of the PDP have been scared away with the millions of naira fixed for the party forms.
Aspirants of the party who condemned the high fees wondered why the party deployed such means to disenfranchise credible candidates and make the race a “cash and carry”.
The party slated August 9 this year for its primaries ahead of the October 25 date fixed by the state’s Independent Electoral Commission for the election, with N1.5 million fixed for chairmanship forms and N300,000.00 for councillorship forms.
Although the timetable, signed by the state Publicity Secretary of the party, Deighan Macualay, indicated that run-off would take place on August 11, The Eagle Online gathered in Asaba, the state capital, on Monday, that the strategy was “to reduce the numbers of aspirants.”
The Eagle Online further gathered that over 1,000 aspirants have declared interest for the 25 council seats in the oil rich state, while no fewer than 6,000 persons have laid siege for over 200 wards in the state.
A PDP source in Asaba said the fear of what transpired in the last council election when the ruling party found it difficult to screen out some aspirants, who later became aggrieved and later worked against the party, necessitated the high price.
The source said: “By fixing millions and thousands of naira for the forms, only those who mean business and are serious about the race would pick it. Elective offices are not all-comers affairs; it is strictly for those who have people-oriented projects to offer. Gone are those days when chairmanship and councillorship positions are used to compensate our boys. This time, we must be very careful. There are opposition parties here and there. We must sell forms for those who can deliver on the peoples’ mandate.”
But the prices did not go down well with some aspirants who wondered why the forms suddenly became “cash and carry”, even as credibility has been thrown to the wind.
“This is a party we have worked for since 1999. The same party now has come up with this strategy to scare us away from picking the forms. Those of us who have genuine interest to serve our people but don’t have such money to cough-out will have to bury our ambitions. If the party should continue with the fees it released last weekend, we will have no option than to seek redress in other parties,” an aspirant who spoke on condition of anonymity threatened.
He however blamed the high price on what he described as “undue love-of-money” within the party at state and national levels, maintaining that “instead for the party to create a level-playing ground for all contestants to showcase their popularity and general-acceptance, it created avenue for the children of their rich godfathers to carry the day.”
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