Ndoma-Egba petitions PDP over NASS primaries in Cross River

Sen. Ndoma-Egba

The Senate Leader, Chief Victor Ndoma-Egba, has petitioned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Assembly Electoral Appeal Panel, alleging “lapses and irregularities” at the Cross River Central Senatorial primaries.

The party’s primaries for the district held on Dec. 7 in Ikom, where Rep. John Owan-Enoh, member representing Etung/Obubra Federal Constituency, was declared winner by the PDP Electoral Panel.

But in a petition addressed to the appeal panel Chairman, Ndoma-Egba said the exercise was “fundamentally and fatally flawed as it fell short of the minimum integrity for an electoral process.

He also stated in the petition, dated Dec. 8, that “the exercise was in complete disregard of the PDP’s Guidelines for Primary Election 2014”.

He said that the list of delegates used for the primaries was not made public.

It stated: “This was imperatives as two lists were in circulation and my agent, Mr. Ernest Irek, protested but was shouted down.

“My agent tried to impress on them that there was a list that had INEC approval but they resisted.

“The panel Chairman, Mr. Oko Inaku, insisted that he was using the list given to him by the party without disclosing which of the two lists in circulation he was using.”

The petitioner stated that his agent also drew their attention to section 28 (c) of the PDP’s guidelines.

``It explicitly states that the number of delegates accredited shall be publicly announced and entered on the appropriate form designed for that purpose before commencement of the election (but) this was not done.”

He also told the appeal panel that sensitive materials, including the result sheets, were not displayed for inspection.

The petition sated that the officials who conducted ``the sham election’’ ignored these lapses.

It also alleged that some people, still keeping appointment with government, were allowed to vote as delegates without first resigning their positions as specified by guidelines.

Ndoma-Egba stated in the petition that in the process “ non-delegates were allowed to vote” at the primary

He stated that “in the season of anomalies that prevailed in the exercise even after warning” from his agent that the whole process was fraught with irregularities, non-delegates were allowed to vote.

He said that relevant documents from the PDP, Cross River, of those eligible to contest and their list of those who won ``were grossly in congruent,” adding that the list did not agree.

Additionally, the petitioner drew the attention of the appeal panel to the discrepancy in the total vote cast (valid and invalid) which was 276 votes.

He said that whereas the electoral panel released to the media and published in one of the national dailies put the total accredited delegates at 376.

He also alleged that immediately after the announcement of the result, the panel left the venue.

He said the results were not entered in the appropriate forms at the venue as required by the party’s guidelines.

The Senate Leader also decried what he called the total militarisation of the election venue.

The petitioner also stated: “About 152 delegates from the Central Senatorial District were kept incommunicado. They were eventually bused to the venue.”

Senator Ndoma-Egba described the primaries as “a complete sham”, adding: “I can say confidently that if what I saw is what is going on, then our democracy is clearly in recession.”

He, therefore, urged the appeal panel to cancel the primaries of Dec. 7 of the PDP in his constituency.

“I reject the outcome of the purported primaries for the Cross River Central Senatorial District held on Dec. 7, 2014 in Ikom and therefore pray this distinguished panel to cancel the primaries,” he stated.