Senate Minority Leader, Abaribe Withdraws From Abia Governorship Race Hours To Primaries

Senate Minority Leader and governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abia State, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has formally pulled out from the PDP governorship primaries scheduled to hold on Wednesday.
Abaribe, in a statement on Wednesday, said he pulled out of the race because of the use of an “imaginary delegates list and lack of transparency”.

Senator Abaribe also alleged that the PDP had no three-man delegate election, noting that the list being bandied about was cooked up by those who wanted to impose their candidates on the party.
He, however, said his next political move would soon be made public.
A statement from Abaribe reads, “Notice of Non-Participation in the Abia PDP Gubernatorial Primaries. The last couple of weeks has been tortuous as we battled hard to navigate our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) away from a self-destructive path.
“The essence was to create an unfettered democratic space and a level playing field for all aspirants vying for all elective offices in the state, to participate equally in the primary elections.
“That was not the case and of course what we are witnessing is a shambolic process driven by a procured court injunction. To make matters worse, the use of only an imaginary 3-man Adhoc delegates to the exclusion of the party’s statutory delegates in the primary elections to elect our candidates even when INEC the nation’s electoral umpire, has unequivocally stated that no congress held in Abia State for that purpose, has no doubt put the party and her candidates in a quagmire.
“The implication for our party is grave and as such has put all ongoing primary exercises on quicksand. Unfortunately, the ugly developments ignited by a rapacious ambition to maintain the wicked governance status quo of imposition and godfatherism have aborted this quest in PDP.
“Accordingly, I Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe will not be part of this charade. I am therefore withdrawing from the exercise, which means that I will not be part of the PDP governorship primary election that holds in Abia State on Wednesday 25th of May, 2022 as doing so would have amounted to an endorsement of illegality that is already being challenged in the courts.
“I, therefore, ask all our people, our teeming supporters and Ndigbo to remain calm, keep the faith and wait for the new direction, which will be announced very soon. What is important is that the campaign to liberate Abia State would surely assume a new dimension. The time is now.”
Meanwhile, another leading governorship aspirant from Abia North, and former State Chairman of PDP, Senator Nwaka, also noted that he would not participate in the primaries.
He alleged that there was no compliance with due process and the extant laws in the conduct of the three-man delegate congress which he insisted never held.