By DADA AYOKHAI
The recent judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja which favored the Chief Dan Orbih-led faction of the Edo State chapter of the PDP may have inadvertently reopened old wounds and further increased the squabbles in the ruling party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The Edo State chairman of the PDP, Hon Tony Aziegbemi, himself also a member of the Gov Obaseki-led faction, described the Orbih-led faction as
shenanigans, disgruntled members who are working for ‘extraterrestrial paymasters and agents of discord.
Penultimate week, the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, entered a declarative judgment conferring recognition on the candidates of the Dan Orbih led faction for both the national and state assembly elections.
Recall that a day before the Abuja court gave its judgment, the Gov Godwin Obaseki faction in the party had approached the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin asking it to reverse its earlier ruling, to which it obliged.
Hon Aziegbemi later issued a “caustic” press statement in which he gave hard knocks to the Federal High Court and accused it of trying to use technicalities and frivolous orders/judgments to derail the party’s campaign for the 2023 general elections.
According to Hon Aziegbemi, the reported judgment of the court, presided over by Justice Ekwo, in which he purportedly upheld the candidacy of some members of the party as the authentic candidates of the PDP in the forthcoming national and state assembly elections came as a “rude shock and disappointment”.
He also poured his venom on the Dan Orbih-led faction for choosing to play the role of a “spoiler” in the crisis rocking the party and urged the general public, supporters of the party, and other stakeholders to resist the temptation of being sucked into what he called a “non-existent controversy being manufactured by the agents of discord”.
In addition, he urged the party supporters across the state to vigorously intensify their preparations for the elections due in less than 100 days, insisting that as a matter of principle, the party will neither succumb to distraction nor be derailed by the shenanigans of a disgruntled and rebellious few who have sold their heart and soul to an “external paymaster”.
He further observed that it is clear from the timing and the contents of the court orders/judgment that the renegades in the Edo PDP are misusing their unfettered judicial access to disrupt the carefully planned and legitimate campaigns of the party candidates in the forthcoming assembly elections in the state.
In particular, he said, “The PDP in Edo State is focused. We are intact as a unit and determined to defeat the forces of darkness. and ensure that these restore hope to our people. The party candidates are undaunted and they will continue to vigorously campaign to bring our messages of hope, redemption, change, and development to our people and at all levels of society.
“We enjoin all well-meaning Edo people as well as the duly recognized PDP candidates not to be dismayed. We have a subsisting Appeal Court judgment recognizing our candidates and to whom the National Secretariat of the party has issued Certificates of Return. The party’s legal team is working hard to mount a still challenge to upturn the obnoxious orders which are alien to the extant landmark judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeal, and others”.
Optimistic about the positive outcome of the party’s appeal, Hon Aziegbemi noted it was only a matter of time before the deceit and chicanery of the renegade group is exposed for all to see them for who they are.
Sounding upbeat about the ability of the PDP to overcome the crisis, Hon. Aziegbemi added that the party is resolutely committed to the sustenance of democracy and called on the men and women of goodwill to disregard any form of propaganda or falsehood which may delay or scuttle the harvest of the accrued benefits at the fullness of time.
he called on the voters to vote for the candidates of the party in the forthcoming elections and made the solemn promise to defend such votes with every ounce of energy at the disposal of the party.
