The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Anambra Chapter, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and stakeholders to protect internal democracy being lured to arbitrarily dissolve its duly constituted State Executive Committee(SEC).
The PDP in a letter to INEC signed by Mr Chidi Chidebe, the chairman of the chapter said the Oct 23, 2024 Congress in the state was conducted in strict compliance with the Judgment of the Court of Appeal and fully monitored by INEC.
The party’s letter which was made available to newsmen in Awka on Sunday, was in reaction to a letter purportedly written by INEC directing a ‘repeat congress’ in the Anambra chapter
The PDP said the election which produced the current State Executive Council, was widely described as the most free and most transparent in the state’s history.
The products of the exercise were were constitutionally guaranteed a four-year tenure between 2024 and 2028.
The party warned that no individual or group should be allowed the power to arbitrarily usurp the party for illegitimate political gains, noting that such actions erode party structures and weaken public trust in Nigeria’s democratic system.
“The need for every stakeholder to join hands in deepening internal democracy within all political parties has never been more urgent,” PDP said.
It called on INEC to investigate and publicly explain why it would consider the abrupt termination of a legitimately constituted State Executive Committee of a political party that had a constitutional mandate of four years.
The party further called on the electoral body to reaffirm its independence and commitment to the Electoral Act 2022 by tracing the source of the allegedly forged document and making clarification to Nigerians
The PDP said hat the document in circulation, which was calling for a so-called repeat congress was unknown to Nigerian electoral law and therefore a nullity.
The PDP in Anambra dismissed so-called “open letter” as ‘social-media propaganda’, adding that it held no weight before a constitutionally established body like INEC.
“The legitimate letter from the State Chairman has been duly submitted, received, and acknowledged by both the INEC Headquarters in Abuja and the Anambra office,” the party said.
The PDP urged INEC not to allow itself to be used as a tool to destabilise a lawfully constituted party structure in Anambra.
