From Tony Osauzo, Benin
A socio-political pressure group, Esan South East for Justice, has condemned the removal of Kenneth Imansuangbon’s name from the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) national delegates’ list of Esan South East Local Government, describing the action as criminal and undemocratic.
Imansuangbon had last weekend at a Congress conducted at Ubiaja, the administrative headquarters of the local government and supervised by INEC officials, won with 156 votes against his opponent Giwa Agbomherere who scored 50 votes.
But the Esan group while appealing to Governor Godwin Obaseki to intervene in the matter, also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Police and the DSS to investigate and ensure that those behind the dastardly act are exposed to save the country’s democracy.
The group in a statement by its coordinator in Benin, Imafidon Ernest, said the removal of Imansuangbon’s name in a bid to disenfranchise him from the delegates’ list is undemocratic and called on the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to call to order the state chairman of the party, Tony Aziegbemi and his cohorts.
It expressed shock that despite the fact that the Congress was conducted in a convivial atmosphere where the people elected their preferred representative to the forthcoming National Convention of the party and the certificate issued to Imansuangbon, the winner, some dubious characters went ahead and submitted the fake list to the National leadership of the party and delisted the delegate for Esan South East.
“It is no longer news to our group that the party’s state chairman is out to do the hatchet bidding of his paymasters to the detriment of the people of his locality where he hails from. What a shame.
“We are however using the opportunity to call on the National Leadership of the Party, Iyorchia Ayu, to intervene quickly against this impunity. It is clear that the action of these perpetrators is fueled by greed, political gangsterism, criminal tendency and selfishness to continue to fuel crisis and division in the state PDP.
“As a group, we are drawing the attention of the leadership of the party to address this anomaly. The people of Esan East have spoken loud and clear last weekend with their votes for the choice of Imansuangbon as their delegate”, the statement added.
But reacting to the allegation of the group against him, Edo State Chairman of the party, Hon. Tony Aziegbemi, said “All questions about the conduct of the ad hoc Congress should be directed to the National office of the party” adding that the exercise “was not a state affair”.