From Tony John, Port Harcourt
No fewer than 40 House of Assembly aspirants, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, yesterday, staged a peaceful protest alleging the party refused to issue them forms after making payments.
The aggrieved aspirants, who stormed the party’s office in Port Harcourt, displayed their bank drafts and tellers issued after paying for the forms, accusing the party of deliberately refusing to issue them with nomination forms.
They claimed they paid into in a bank account provided by the party and were directed to come to the party’s office, yesterday, to collect the forms with their bank drafts.
The aspirants, however, said when they got to the party office, nobody was on ground to attend to them.
One of the aspirants who gave his name as LoveGod Ihueze, expressed displeasure over the development, asking why they would pay for forms, but would not be issued with one.
Another aspirant, Kinika Ogbu, wondered why the party would issue just one form for Assembly slots, saying there was no time the party agreed to go on consensus.
Ogbu demanded that forms be issued to aspirants since they had paid for them.
Soprala Batubo, an aspirant, said they had tried to get the forms in Abuja on Tuesday, but were advised by the national financial secretary of the party to go to their state to get the forms.
Spokesman of the party, Sydney Tambari Gbara, said the party does not know the protesters, saying those who purchased forms had been issued all necessary documents.