The Peoples Democratic Occasion, PDP, in Cross River State on Saturday, defied the Nationwide Working Committee, NWC, to carry its congress in Calabar.
The NWC had on Wednesday, dissolved the state working committee (SWC) led by Venatius Ikem, insisting its tenure had lengthy expired. It additionally warned towards going forward with the deliberate congress.
However the Ikem-led SWC dismissed the directive, arguing that Abuja had no powers to cease them. The congress, they mentioned, should proceed as scheduled.
The event prompted the deployment of heavy safety on the venue to forestall doable unrest.
Greater than 1,000 delegates from the 18 native authorities areas participated within the train.
Declaring the congress open, Chairman of the Electoral Panel, Jones Chukwudi, assured members of a reputable course of.
He defined that though a harmonised listing of candidates already existed, voting would nonetheless be carried out after accreditation consistent with occasion pointers.
Chukwudi pledged transparency, promising to show the unique outcome sheets and poll papers earlier than the train commenced. His committee’s secretary, TJ Yusuf, urged delegates to view the congress as a “household affair” and to shun rancour.
Based on Yusuf, “It’s pure for folks to need good issues, however we should conduct ourselves with peace and love.”
The congress was attended by key occasion figures, together with Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, Senator Sandy Onor, businessman and educationist Sir Arthur Jarvis Archibong, and former UNICAL Vice Chancellor, Prof. Zana Akpagu, who’s searching for the Obudu/Bekwara/Obanliku federal seat.
