The Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has described as false a statement credited to the national secretary of the party, Samuel Anyanwu, wherein he alleged that some chieftains of the party betrayed the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, during the February 25 presidential election.
A statement issued in Owerri, the state capital, on Wednesday by the PDP spokesperson, Collins Opurozor, insisted that the party worked for Atiku at the polls.
Opurozor said it was surprising how the PDP got only 10 votes at Anyanwu’s polling unit on February 25.
The statement read,
“The Peoples Democratic Party in Imo State is aware of a statement by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, the National Secretary of the party, which has now been published in some sections of the media, alleging that the money for the party’s Presidential and National Assembly elections in Imo State was misappropriated. The statement goes on to accuse the Imo PDP leaders of sabotage during the election.
“Inasmuch as we respect the person of Senator Anyanwu and the office he occupies, it is necessary to always set the records right. Also, the PDP is in opposition in Imo State, and so it relies chiefly on popular confidence and acceptability to reclaim its mandate. Therefore, the attempt by Senator Anyanwu to cast a slur on the reputation of the party and the integrity of our leaders is most unacceptable.
“Yet, because the claims contained in the statement made by our National Secretary are not just effectively dubious but also completely untrue, Imo PDP is deeply worried about the interests which the Amaimo-born Distinguished Senator intends to advance through such barefaced misinformation.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Anyanwu was in attendance during the last stakeholders’ meeting of the party on Thursday, February 23, 2023 where issues of appropriation of resources and disbursement thereof for the prosecution of the Presidential and National Assembly elections in the State were agreed upon. The framework adopted by stakeholders was handed over to the Finance Department of the Presidential Campaign Council for implementation.
“In line with this framework, the logistics for the elections in each Local Government Area were given to a team of stakeholders from that LGA, which included the Apex Leader of the LGA, the Chairman of the Party in the LGA, the Chairman of the Campaign Council in the LGA, the Candidates from the LGA, a National, Zonal and State Officer of the Party from the LGA and other Party stakeholders from the LGA. Till this day, the party has never received any complaint of any sort of deviation from the generally-agreed framework. One begins to wonder what could have informed the outburst from the National Secretary.
“If there is anything the Imo PDP finds really troubling, it is the fact that our Presidential Candidate scored only ten (10) votes at Obodo Central School in Amaimo, Ikeduru LGA, which is the polling unit of our National Secretary. This is extremely difficult to explain.
“It is also worrisome that despite the hues and cries that have trailed the elections in Imo State, our National Secretary has been most unwilling to lend his voice to the agitations by the Imo PDP for the electoral process in Imo to be sanitised and the culprits in the February 25 electoral fraud be brought to book. We had expected the National Secretary to deploy his strategic position to draw attention to some of the indefensible electoral malpractices in the state.”
