The attention of Ahwinahwi Campaign Organisation has been drawn to series of unsavoury statements, innuendos and deliberate misrepresentations targeted at the highly respectable former Representative of Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives and present flagbearer of the PDP for the 2023 general elections, Hon Chief Solomon Urhoboyovwe Ahwinahwi, which baseless claims no doubt stem from biased minds and desperate intentions to tarnish the image of our Principal.
Ordinarily, it is not in our character to retort or stoop to responding to misstatements, half-truths or bloated allegations of this nature but for the sake of setting the records straight if only for the interest of our innocent constituents and undiscerning members of the public that such fact-twisting ventilations could sway, we consider it necessary to make this clarification.
We wish to simply inform or remind the Chief Hon Taleb Tebite group that the Rerun Election duly scheduled and conducted on Monday, May 30, 2022, was entirely at the instance of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the State, having been directed by the National Working Committee over alleged irregularities in the exercise of Sunday, May 22, 2022. Our Principal being a loyal Party man and a leading aspirant in the House of Representatives race, had no option but to align with the decision of the Party to return to the Ughelli Township Stadium for the Rerun which he eventually won on a landslide margin.
We also deem it necessary to enlighten fellow travellers of that team that, just as they rightly emphasized when they cited several sections of the Electoral Act as it concerns the conduct of Primary Elections, there is no doubt that the leadership of the PDP must have clinically studied the Electoral Act and placed it in contrast with what transpired during the Sunday, May 22 House of Reps Primary Election, hence the cancellation and re-scheduled Rerun, apparently, in order to ensure that the Party totally complies with the Electoral Guidelines and avoid a situation where the loopholes observed during the May 22 exercise do not hinder the anticipated victory of the Party in the General Elections.
It is also imperative to make it abundantly clear that the issues of scheduling and conducting Primary Elections are strictly matters of both the National and State leadership of the Party to decide, and as such goes beyond the stature of Hon Solomon Ahwinahwi or any other aspirant for that matter. And for the avoidance of doubt, the notice of the Re-run was duly communicated to all the aspirants who hitherto took part in the earlier Primary Election, hence many of those who were in the race also duly participated in the Rerun.
For instance, one of the aspirants in the person of Hon Samuel Mariere who came third in the May 22 Primary Election duly issued a statement a day earlier announcing his withdrawal from the contest and consequently his decision not to participate in the Rerun Election. Irrespective of that tough resolve, the sportsmanly Hon Mariere was fully on ground at the Ughelli Township Stadium to exercise his right as a Delegate to cast his vote.
In the same vein, another of the aspirants, Chief Eunice Daji Okoh, not only participated fully in the Rerun Election but also formally announced her ‘stepping down’ for Hon Chief Ahwinahwi in a Press Briefing shortly before the commencement of the Rerun Election. Same it was for Hon Julius Efeni Akpovoka, an aspirant in the race who was in attendance and fully participated in the day’s activities.
As for Hon Taleb Tebite, activities of the fateful day, Monday, May 30, 2022, clearly showed that he was duly communicated and notified of the Rerun Election by the Party, hence his supporters were mobilized to the Stadium that morning in the failed attempt to stop the Rerun Election from holding. So, logically, we find it laughable that ignorance of the scheduled Rerun exercise is so lavishly feigned.
In the light of the foregoing, we wish to call on His Excellency, the Governor of Delta State, the leadership and esteemed members of the Party across the State and in particular, Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency to ignore the unwarranted, baseless and empty venting from the Hon Taleb Tebite’s camp, especially as a level playing ground was created for all the aspirants to test, or re-test, their political popularity from which Delegates duly cast their ballots massively in favour of Hon Chief Solomon Ahwinahwi.
We also wish to state that the issue of the House of Reps Primary and consequent Rerun has come and gone, and the Solomon Ahwinahwi Team has since moved beyond that stage and entered into the Strategic Planning Board with the determined intent of designing a blueprint that would give the Party victory in the 2023 General Elections, which is now our main goal.
Our utmost thanks go to the State Governor, the Party leadership, Delegates and Members for the confidence reposed in the Solomon Ahwinahwi Brand, with the assurances that your trust will surely be converted to Victory at the General Elections.
Signed:
Ahwinahwi Campaign Organisation
