EDO PDP CRISIS: Distribution of Certificates of Return; It’s illegal, outrageous, biggest joke of the year that will definitely take Aziengbemi to jail.
By; Etose Dickson Imasogie( Edo South, PDP Senatorial Leader)
Tuesday 6th of September, 2022, the distribution, last week, of the Party’s Certificates of Return to factional candidates of the Edo State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, by the State Chairman, Hon. Tony Aziegbemi, has been described as “not only illegal, but also a nullity and the biggest joke of the year.”
Making the declaration, last week, in an exclusive interview with The Navigator, a prominent leader of the party in Edo South senatorial district, Etose Dickson Imasogie, emphasized that by going back to the distribution of the certificates, dated 6th of June, 2022, when the national secretariat of the party had complied with an Order of a Court for the submission of the authentic list of party candidates for the Senatorial and House of Representatives elections, by its forwarded list of Thursday 30th June, 2022, signed by the then acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Iliya Damagun, and the National Secretary, Senator Samuel N. Anyanwu, Hon. Aziegbemi “ignorantly acted on nothingness and had no legal ground of verifiable substance.”
Said Etose Imasogie: “The illegal exercise is the joke of the year! A day before that illegal presentation, our supposed State Chairman telephoned me and said he wanted to share the Certificates of Return. I asked where he got them from, and he said they had been with him. I then asked him which date was on the Certificates, and he said 6th of June, 2022. I then advised him not to put himself in jail. Ayu is running away from going to jail, and he is sending you to jail.
After that illegal recognition of your list by Ayu, we, the legacy party, filed a motion to contend Ayu for not submitting our list to INEC. Ayu ran away and pretended that he was going on vacation and asked the National Deputy North, who was then acting as the National Chairman, to send the list of the legacy team candidates to INEC. That list was sent on 30th of June. And we posted the letter to you with the list of candidates in compliance with the Court Order.
It was after the 30th of June, that people loyal to Aziengbemi appealed the judgment of the Federal High Court. As we speak, the Appeal Court is yet to entertain the case. So, it is that ruling of the High Court, which authenticated our list, that is still subsisting as we speak. Don’t you think Aziengbemi want to send himself to jail when Ayu is running away from going to jail? I do not know his authority. As I told him ‘if what you call 6th of June had a counter order from the court, and you acted in line with that counter court order on the 30th of June, twenty-four days later, you are going back to honour what happened on the 6th without any court order setting aside the order of the High Court, are you not sending yourself to jail?”
Etose Imasogie maintained that the legacy party members were patiently waiting for the ruling of the Supreme Court, “even though it has little or nothing to do with the candidates of the party, because it is not the candidates who sued, we, the ad hoc delegates sued; and the national headquarters of our party obeyed, and recognized us as the legitimate ad hoc delegates; and we voted at the national convention to elect our presidential candidate.
When some people went on appeal, the Appeal Court gave a ruling that was neither here nor there, saying the ad hoc delegates’ election was the responsibility of the party; yes, it is, we know that. Even the candidates’ election is the responsibility of the party. The bone of contention is the mode. If you say you are handpicking them, good; but the constitution of the party and the provisions of the Electoral Act say they shall be elected, not handpicked. The Electoral Act stipulates that any party activity done by election must be witnessed and monitored by INEC.
The ad hoc delegates’ election was done properly, monitored by INEC and the list sent to our national secretariat, Abuja and INEC had its own copy of the list. That was why even when they sent the illegal list of those being paraded by Aziengbemi, INEC said, no, this is not the one we monitored. So, we are waiting for the Supreme Court, since the Appeal Court ruling was neither here nor there. Today, we are no longer ad hoc delegates; we have since completed our duty of electing our presidential candidate at the convention; but if we did not go for the Supreme Court’s interpretation, it could happen to somebody else in the future. That is essentially why we are in the Supreme Court.”
Congratulations Etose Imasogie, therefore, charged authentic members of the PDP in the state to remain forthright and upbeat, assuring that the legacy party leaders would not allow, “Aziengbemi, who has not been holding meetings with the caucus members of the party, or anyone else, to kill the party for us.”