Adedokun Waliyu 
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has a tough nut to crack in Ebonyi State. It has to answer the question of who its validly recognized governorship candidate is between Dr Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odi and Senator Obinna Ogba.
There is a dispute over the validity of the two primaries held on May 28 to 29 that produced Dr Odi and Senator Obinna Ogba on June 4 and 5, 2022.
While Odii emerged in the first primary held on May 28 to 29, 2022 that was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Senator Ogba has been given a certificate of return by the PDP.
The 3-man delegates list used for the first primary was the product of the state PDP Congress of May 7, 2022 which was eventually recognised by the PDP National Working Committee, NWC.
The primaries, authorised by the PDP NWC, were peacefully conducted with the INEC monitoring the exercise in line with the Electoral Guidelines and the 2022 Electoral Act as Odii’s name was thereafter forwarded to INEC on June 10.
However, the national leadership of the PDP in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, cancelled the May 28 and 29 exercise, claiming that the panel that conducted the election was not properly constituted.
Odii approached a Federal High Court in Abakaliki which in a judgement on June 7 upheld his election as the governorship candidate of the PDP.
However, the PDP ignored the judgement, and issued Ogba a certificate of return as the recognised candidate of the party in the state.
Ogba said: “Certificate of Return has been given to me and the result of our primary election has been accepted by the PDP in Abuja. We have appealed the court case. Court doesn’t belong to anyone but to everybody. They will look at it and know who is at fault. Nobody can take the mandate of our people from the backyard. I am happy with the PDP delegates who expressed their choice of my person.
“The way I defeated him in practical terms is the same way I will defeat him in court.
Ebonyi people shouldn’t be fooled. I am the candidate of PDP for Ebonyi State Governorship in the 2023 general election. The case in court is a pre-election matter. It will get to the Supreme court.”
In a quick counter, the Director of Media & Publicity of Anyi Chuks Campaign Organization, Chief Abia Onyike, called on Senator Ogba to stop deceiving the general public as to his current status after the party’s governorship primaries.
He explained that on June 10, 2022, the National body of the party obeyed the Court Order by forwarding the names of all the candidates elected during the legitimate primaries of May 28 and 29, 2022 to INEC and the processing of their forms had commenced.
In a statement titled: “The time for Truth and Reconciliation has come,” Onyike described “the parallel primaries conducted on June 4 and 5 as an anti-democratic intervention by some powerful forces who were hell-bent on reversing the popular will of the people.
He said: “The ruling of the Federal High Court in Abakaliki on June 7, 2022 restoring the authenticity of the first primaries which elected Dr. Odi was a historic confirmation of the democratic will of Ebonyi PDP cadres as against the dictatorship and imposition by a few godfathers.
