More troubles for PDP in Edo

Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Edo Sept. 10 governorship election, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. Nick Dazang, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Deputy Director for Voter Education and Publicity, disclosed this in an interview with NAN on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr. Dazang said the decision to accept Mr. Ize-Iyamu, candidate of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, led by Ahmed Makarfi, was informed by the court’s decision on the matter. “The commission collected the nomination from Makarfi-led faction because he has a court judgment that says INEC should accept his candidate.

“Secondly, you will recall that it is only his own faction of PDP primary that the commission monitored,” Mr. Dazang said. The PDP has been rocked by an internal crisis, with two factions laying claim to the party’s national leadership. A faction led by Ali Modu Sheriff submitted the name of Matthew Iduoriyekwemwen as its candidate for the Sept. 10 Edo polls, after the Makarfi faction had submitted Mr. Ize-Iyamu’s name.

The Makarfi’s group, supported by all organs of the party, including the Governors’ Forum and the Board of Trustees, conducted its primary on June 20 in Benin and elected Mr. Ize-Iyamu as candidate. On June 29, at another primary that was not supervised by INEC as required by the Electoral Act, Mr. Sheriff’s faction picked Mr. Iduoriyekwemwen as the party’s candidate for the Sept. 10 election.

INEC had said earlier that it would not accept any candidate until a court decides on the matter. A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on July 4 held that the May 21 national convention that removed Mr. Sheriff as chairman and constituted the National Caretaker Committee was duly constituted. The court also declared that the dissolution of the National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee by that convention was valid.

In the judgment, Justice Abdullahi Liman declared that the appointment of the caretaker committee to oversee the party’s affairs was legal and in line with the provisions of PDP Constitution. Mr. Dazang said on Tuesday that the commission had received nomination forms from 19 political parties including the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He listed others as: Action Aliance (AA), African Democratic Congress (ACD), Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Independent Democrats (ID) among others.