THE Appeal Panel that looked into petitions arising from the Rivers State congresses of the Peoples Democratic Party has disagreed with aggrieved PDP governorship aspirants in the state over the allegation that it (panel) was doing the bidding of the former Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Members of the panel, who concluded its task of resolving the grievances that arose during and after the local and ward congresses on Tuesday, described the allegation that they were doing the former minister’s bidding as an attack on their integrity.
It will be recalled that 16 PDP governorship aspirants in the state had expressed their lack of confidence in the members of both the electoral body that oversaw the congresses and the appeal panel set up to address the grievances of members of the party.
The Chairman of the PDP Appeal Panel, Mr. Afam Okeke, told newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that they would vouch for their (members of the panel) integrity that they were not pandering to anybody’s whims and caprices.
Okeke stated that 14 governorship aspirants had sent a petition across to the panel, adding that the panel had also communicated to them in writing on its decision aimed at resolving the aspirants’ grievances.
Explaining that it was the right of any contestant to complain about the process of an election, the chairman of the man also described the allegation of bias against members of the panel as unfortunate.
Okeke said, “This is their petition with us here and these are their signatures. I agree with them that they did not participate in the congresses, but they sent in their petition.
“Now that (allegation of the governorship aspirants) attacks our integrity. It is unfortunate for party members because there is no evidence to substantiate any of those claims they have made.
“But these are internal family matter and we understand the emotions behind their aspirations and we accommodate those emotions; we accommodate those aspirations, including the insults.
“We need to vouch for our integrity that we are not here to do anybody’s bidding. It is impossible to be here to do anybody’s bidding. Everybody that came here with a petition was well attended to.
“I am sure that nobody who came here will leave here without the impression that indeed, we are committed to a transparent process. Our mandate is not to cause division in the party. Our mandate is to assuage the feelings of people who have one grievance or the other.”
Okeke stated that apart from the petition from the PDP governorship aspirants, one petition was received from the New Dawn group led by Emanuel Georgewill and another complaint from the Rivers Peace Restoration Agenda sent in by Elemchukwu Obowu.
He said the petitions were basically expressing dissatisfaction on the manner the congresses were conducted in the state, adding that the panel had written to the groups on its decision.
“In the course of our assignment, we received three petitions from three different groups. We got petitions from the New Dawn group led by Engineer Emmanuel Georgewill.
“Then another petition from Rivers Peace Restoration Agenda sent in by Honourable Elemchukwu Obowu. The third one came from 14 governorship aspirants of the PDP in Rivers State. We were here till 7 pm yesterday, collecting petitions.
“After careful consideration of all the petitions, we made our findings and in arriving at our findings, we were guided by justice, fairness and the provisions of the electoral guidelines as stipulated by the party,” Okeke added.
Among 14 PDP governorship aspirants, who signed the petition, are Bek Dagogo-Jack, Bernard Miko, Professor Don Baridam, Tonye Princewill and Dumo Lulu-Briggs.
