Rivers PDP aspirants accuse party of withholding forms after payment

National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Iyorchia Ayu

We don’t know them, PDP replies

Some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aspirants from Rivers State vying for positions in the state House of Assembly have accused the party of withholding the expression of interest and nomination forms after they had made payment.
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The aspirants, numbering over 40, stormed the party’s office in Port Harcourt, yesterday, with their bank drafts and tellers to demand their forms.

The visibly angry party members said they had paid for the forms at a designated bank and visited the party’s office to collect their forms with their bank drafts but there was nobody to attend to them, claiming that the act was deliberate.

LoveGod Ihueze, one of the aspirants, expressed displeasure over the development and questioned why they would pay for forms that would not be issued to them.
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Another aspirant, Kinika Ogbu, said: “I have my drafts here, so are others. We have done the right thing. We have gone to the bank to get our drafts, the next thing is for the party to give us forms but they are denying us. I have fulfilled all the necessary requirements.”

Similarly, Soprala Batubo, an aspirant, said they had tried to get the forms in Abuja on Tuesday but were advised by the National Financial Secretary of the PDP to go to their state to get the forms.

Batubo said: “We were at the Secretariat of our National Party yesterday to pick up our forms but the financial secretary advised us to go to our state, Rivers State, to get the forms. Noticing our reluctance, he called the state Chairman, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, who assured him that the forms were available. Today now, the state chairman and others are nowhere to be found.”
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When contacted, the spokesman for the party, Sydney Tambari Gbara, said the party did not know the protesters, noting that those who purchased forms had been issued all necessary documents.

Gbara said: “In the first place, we don’t know who those people are because those who actually paid into our account to buy forms have been issued forms, intent, and nomination forms.

“We don’t really know where these people are coming from. I will be in the office tomorrow, maybe by the time they come, they will give us details on how the papers they are brandishing, how they got it.”
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