Ahead of State and National Congress of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, a chieftain of the party, Lazarus Atu, has told the leadership of the party in Abia State to shun imposition of unpopular candidates on members and allow internal democracy to thrive.
The call followed the recent zoning of the state chairmanship position of the PDP to Abia North by the State Party Caucus after its meeting on June 1, 2024 in Umuahia.
Atu, in an interview with journalists on Saturday in Umuahia, the Abia capital, urged the state PDP leadership and all members to abhor any actions capable of jeopardizing the upcoming congresses in the state.
“We all know that the hallmark of internal democracy is that candidates should emerge from the process approved by the Constitution of the party and the Electoral Act of our country.
“Anything outside that suggests that there have been some form of imposition, this is abnormal, evil, unethical, condemnable and does not create room for democracy to mature,” he stated.
The Abia stalwart continued: “Whenever there is imposition in an election, it brings about a questionable candidate and offends the law of our party.
“Instead of just foisting candidates on the people, we must ensure that candidates are nominated except for cases where aspirants unanimously agree that a certain person should be their candidate.
“Intimidating and coercing party faithful to throw their support behind one of the aspirants is a false, dangerous and malicious narrative that is capable of destroying the very foundation of our unity and collective aspiration,” Atu said.
He, however, vowed that genuine members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abia State would not condone any form of imposition.
“And if not for anything to show the world that in our lifetime, we fought against impunity and the enemies of mankind.
“We believe in the unity and cohesion of our great party but such believe should not be at the expense of our freedom, liberty, free will and progress,” he added.
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