Group wants Jegede published as PDP candidate

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish Eyitayo Jegede as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The group’s coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, made the request in Abuja yesterday in a letter to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

According to HURIMA, the logjam over the choice of candidate was capable of creating anarchy in the minds of the voters.

The group warned INEC against scuttling the nation’s democracy, adding that Jegede, who belongs to the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the PDP, fulfilled the statutory requirements of a governorship primary.

Onwubiko said HURIWA was an independent observer at the primary that produced Jegede, which it adjudged to have duly complied with the laid down rules.

The letter reads in part: “With specific reference to the needless disputations on the rightful candidate to contest the election, we are well aware that some fifth columnists are doing everything outside the rule book to undermine the INEC’s credibility, through some subterfuge and well-coordinated campaign of calumny.

“The purpose is to blackmail the electoral institution to enlist a wrongful person as the party’s candidate. The emergence of Jegede met the best global practices in line with Section 158(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”

The group condemned the allegation of a demand for $1million bribe by the factional candidate Jimoh Ibrahim.

It urged the INEC to maintain its independence and not be intimidated to take a contradictory decision.

The letter added: “As members of the civil society, our representatives in Ondo State have informed us and we have confirmed that to impose a non card-carrying member of the PDP on the electorate would be unpopular.”