The 2019 senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, Patrick Ndubueze, has accused the new leadership of the party led by Charles Ugwu of a clandestine plan to impose another candidate on the people in order to displace him.
He alleged that a ‘small cabal’ in the present leadership of the party is hell-bent on stopping his candidature on the claims that he no longer has the financial muscle to run the election.
He said, “my expectation and the expectation of all well-meaning members of the PDP was that I should have been given the ticket to reclaim a mandate freely given to me by the good people of Okigwe zone.
“In 2018, amid idle talks by my detractors that I had been completely skinned by the 2014 primaries and therefore lacked the capacity to run, I won convincingly at the primaries and went ahead to win the main election against a senator who lost to me even in his ward. Unfortunately, the mandate was stolen on account of internal sabotage.
“Now that another opportunity has presented itself for me to reclaim my stolen mandate, why would the party decide to throw me out to impose a neophyte who is neither popular nor acceptable to members of the zone?
“It might interest you to know that of the six LGAs that make up Imo North senatorial district, only Okigwe and Onuimo LGAs are yet to produce a representative of the senate.
“Make no mistake about it. I have enough financial resources to run the election to a successful end but I refuse to allow myself to be goaded into a needless and avoidable competitive primaries when the mandate freely given to me by the PDP delegates previously still subsists.
“It beats my imagination that the party’s ticket for Okigwe zone has been domiciled in Obowo LGA where the current state chairman of the party, Charles Ugwu, hails from,” he lamented.
He further disclosed that the party’s sole aim to displace him in the election was the reason it failed to conduct the statutory 3-man adhoc delegates Congress in the ward but allegedly compiled names of their cronies for use in the primaries.
However, in a press release signed by the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Ogubundu Nwadike, the party has slated September 5, 2020 for its primaries where two aspirants, Patrick Ndubueze and Emmanuel Okewulonu are to be voted for by statutory and adhoc delegates from the 64 electoral wards across Imo north senatorial district.
