Shocking revelations have been made about primary elections conducted by the All Progressive Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for Okigwe senate bye election, in Imo State.
The APC Primary ended in controversy as two candidates claimed victory.
The PDP held a less rancour Primary exercise with Emmanuel Okewulonu emerging the party’s candidate.
But a former Commissioner in the State, one time Senatorial aspirant in Okigwe zone and a legal luminary, Prof Nnamdi Obiareri, in an article, Sunday, expressed shock, how aspirants who participated in the exercise in the two political parties were swindled.
“The recent Senatorial primary exercises in Okigwe zone by both PDP and APC are ready examples of the mundane nadir our politics and people have sunk” he wrote.
He continued ” Those who distrust or look down on politicians may be right going by the odd things that transpired during the Okigwe zone senate bye election….
“For the avoidance of doubt, I have all the details of who demanded for what and who was given what on good authority but will spare the public the agony of revealing names of these criminal masterminds unless pushed to do so.
“Why will you demand and receive millions in cash (either directly or through proxies) from an aspirant if you have no intention to deliver as promised. Is that one politics too.
“Fraudsters masquerading as politicians, Mr or Mrs Fix it, influence peddlers and Name Droppers within and outside Okigwe zone and Imo State made a mince meat of the desperate aspirants.
“For APC aspirants, the homes of people said to be wealthy and influential around the powers that be either in the State or Abuja were converted to OBT or 419 centres to fleece aspirants (not one, not two, not three, not four, not five but more of tens of millions of Naira, tens of thousands of Dollars and even title deeds of landed property…”
“In the course of the APC Senatorial Primary election, political vultures and all shades of swindlers from outside Okigwe zone swarmed on APC aspirants, collected their millions..
“What did all those who used the name of the powers that be in Imo and Abuja to “collect or obtain” from the APC aspirants do for them at the end of the day..
“Where are the traditional rulers (call them ruiners if you like) from Okigwe zone who collected and obtained from the aspirants and gave them premature endorsements while pouring fake libation with plastic cups?….
“Now is it not annoying and a monumental disgrace to all concerned that APC ended up producing four or more “candidates” from one Senatorial primary election held in Okigwe zone in 2020?..
“In PDP, it was the same wheeling and dealing as decisions of the caucus or leadership of the party in the State over who to support in the Senatorial primary election in Okigwe zone kept changing like London weather until one of the aspirants was frustrated out of the race after he had been milked dry and left forlorn
“If you know PDP politics and their “tax collectors mentality”, as aptly described by Governor Wike, himself a PDP bigwig, you will pity both the loser and the winner of the PDP Senatorial primary election…. Prof Obiareri wrote
INNONEWS
