The attempt by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to produce consensus candidates for the House of Assembly and House of Representatives in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State has ended in chaos as party faithful engaged each other in full blown fisticuffs with aspirants rejecting the outcome of the pre-primaries.
Kristina Reports reliably learnt that the brawl, which took place at the residence of a former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Bonny LGA, Clinton Tolofari, in Bonny, saw members of the party deploying various objects as weapons against each other, including a former Local Government Chairman tearing the shirt of one of the members.
An eyewitness told Kristina Reports that it took the intervention of security operatives to restore calm at the venue of the pre-primaries.
The party leadership allegedly claims to have voted a former Chairman of Bonny LGA, Edward Pepple and a former Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC Bonny LGA chapter, Ene Longjohn, as candidates for the Degema/Bonny federal constituency in the House of Representatives, and Bonny Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, respectively.
This position was, however, disclaimed by some of the aspirants who claim the process was not consistent with the provisions of the APC Constitution as amended and bereft of justice, fairness and equity.
One of the aspirants, Onimi Kabaka-Brown told Kristina Reports that “our party constitution as amended requires the ward excos to decide who flies the party’s flag for House of Assembly but it was only ward chairmen and secretaries that were there,” asserting that this was not done as “only 24 persons, that is the ward chairmen and secretaries, excluding the rest exco members”.
Another House of Assembly aspirant, Dabota Godswill-Jumbo regretted that aside non-compliance with the party’s constitution, gender equity was absent, pointing out that the party’s candidates in the 2019 botched election due to the party not being on the ballot, were denied the right of first refusal, lamenting that this was an entrenchment of lack of fairness, justice and equity.
“It was a huge shock to us. The number persons were so minimal to the number that should prop candidates for the different elections. For example, only the chairmen and the secretaries were invited. Constitutionally, it should be the ward excos.”
“There was no female representative, there was no youth representative in that gathering today. I spoke up and I expressed my concern that there is an issue that is of concern to me. There was a pre-determined candidate for today’s election. If you ask me.”
On his part, an aspirant for the House of Representatives position, Fubara Hart, who bemoaned the development, said he pulled out of the process because Degema LGA was not represented in the purported pre-primaries, describing it as “a sad day for our party”.
He stressed that the constitutional provisions were not adhered to, which requires that “only the Chairman and Secretary of the Ward Executive Committee… are members of the Local Government Area Congress that will form the Electoral College of delegates”.
He disclosed that though the ward chairmen and secretaries were at the meeting, it was only the 12 ward chairmen of Bonny LGA, while those of Degema LGA were absent, adding that even some individuals who were not supposed to be part of the process joined in the election.
In a chat with Kristina Reports, one of the party faithful, who preferred anonymity, queried why the leadership, including, according to him, one who had allegedly gone to collect $50,000 from a certain PDP Governor for his child’s medical bill, would come and determine who flies the party’s flags in Bonny.
Another source, who preferred not to be named as he was a caucus member, accused some of the party leaders of not taking the party’s affairs seriously, saying one of the party leaders who was supposed to attend a meeting of APC leaders with the Leader of the party in the State and Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, was absent because he was away in Lagos attending the birthday party of a relative.
“Can you imagine that? How can someone who was supposed to be in such an important strategic meeting, abscond to Lagos to attend a birthday party? What if he doesn’t want to offend his PDP Governor friend who paid his son’s medical bill of $50,000? I think our leader, Rt. Hon. Amaechi should be wary of these people.”
It remains to see what the leadership of the APC at the National, Zonal and State levels would do to address this development, especially, with a view to ensuring it does replicate across other LGAs in the State.
A party stalwart, who identified himself as Ibienimi wondered why the party constitution would not be followed, right of first refusal would be denied aspirants who had no hand in the botched attempt in 2019, stressing that “even though we want to do consensus, should we go this low of handpicking people who have no electoral value? Or are we just working to hand the election to the PDP on a platter of gold?”
It’s a shame that APC leadership in Bonny that shld be looking for a way to draw party faithfuls together are indulging in processes that can tear the party apart..